"In this pathbreaking book, Robert Parkinson argues that to unify the patriot side, political and communications leaders linked British tyranny to colonial prejudices, stereotypes, and fears about insurrectionary slaves and violent Indians. Manipulating newspaper networks, Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, and their fellow agitators broadcast stories of British agents inciting African Americans and Indians to take up arms against the American rebellion. Using rhetoric like "domestic insurrectionists" and "merciless savages," the founding fathers rallied the people around a common enemy and made racial prejudice a cornerstone of the new Republic"-- Provided by publisher.

"A work of difficulty": communication networks, newspapers, and the common cause -- Interlude: the "shot heard 'round the world" revisited -- "Britain has found means to unite us": 1775 -- Merciless savages, domestic insurrectionists, and foreign mercenaries: independence -- "By the American Revolution you are now free": sticking together in trying times -- "It is the cause of heaven against hell": to the Carlisle Commission, 1777-1778 -- Interlude: Franklin and Lafayette's "Little book" -- "A striking picture of barbarity": Wyoming to the disaster at Savannah, 1778-1779 -- "This class of Britain's heroes": From the fall of Charleston to Yorktown -- "The substance is truth": after Yorktown, 1782-1783 -- "New provocations": The political and cultural consequences of revolutionary war stories.