The Nineteenth-Century Weekly Press and the Tumultuous Career of Journalist Leon Lewis

Abstract

The weekly press of the nineteenth century constituted a vigorous presence in journalism history often overshadowed by the partisan and penny presses. Typically seen as an instrument of progressive social change, the weekly press was also a commercial powerhouse that attracted profit-seeking publishers and editors such as Robert Bonner and flashy sensationalist journalists such as Leon Lewis. Bonner's New-York Ledger (1855–1898), which employed Lewis, was the bestselling American weekly paper of the nineteenth century, second in the world only to the London Journal. Lewis’ journalistic career—which met with fraud, extortion, and even attempted murder—reflects the underworld of weekly press business strategy, practice, and ethics.