Tyranny of Printers: Newspaper Politics in Early American Republic. By Jeffrey L. Pasley. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001. Pp. xv, 517. Illustrations, maps, appendix. $37.50.) In Tyranny of Printers, Jeffrey Pasley assesses role of American newspapers in politics into early Jacksonian era, but emphasis is on period after 1790. Offering analytical narrative (22) replete with incisive quotations from primary sources, this well-written book is rooted in biographical studies of individual politically partisan editors. Pasley, who focuses on Republican party editors, is sensitive to regional variations, especially important point that southern editors tended to be gentlemen while their northern counterparts typically came from lower or middle ranks. Pasley does not ignore partisan Federalist party press, and his informative analysis of it buttresses some of his main arguments. Tyranny of Printers, with upwards of 500 pages and an accompanying Web site, bristles with analytical commentary on a range of topics. Though no brief review can offer an adequate summary, four core themes stand out. The first is that the newspaper-based party . . . dominated American scene (17) from late 1790s through antebellum years. Indeed, the newspaper press was system's central institution (3), and after 1800, felt need to engage in a journalistic arms race (237). The second basic contention is that partisan Republican editors became professional politicians (19) who shaped their party as they strove to democratize American politics. Indeed, republican editors' perennial theme trumpeted democratizing ideal that ordinary citizens had the positive duty . . . to engage in politics, express public opinion, and government policy from outside (85). Pasley's third central argument is that republican editors' goal of having all white males participate in politics not coincidentally gave printers both escape route from industrializing tendencies in newspaper trade and potential to wield political influence (47). The fourth basic point is that genteel leaders, Republican as well as Federalist, were always uncomfortable with partisan editors from artisan backgrounds. In fact, gentlemen mounted an unsuccessful political gentrification campaign (359) in early 1800s. These core themes thus highlight socioeconomic and cultural as well as conflict. Pasley also comments extensively on remarkable flexibility of classical republican ideas (75) and their influence. In addition, he assays how much and what kind of financial support editors received. The book's Web site (http://pasleybrothers.com/newspols), which provides data on individual editors, merits comment. Though Web site can be updated as Pasley continues to study this period and carries his analysis forward in future volumes, it is frustrating to check for evidence about groups of editors only to find an endnote directing reader to Web site. Some of Web site's current information, especially specifics on offices held by 1790s partisan editors, could easily and should have been included in book. Moreover, text and endnote material is often not well placed. For example, crucial general statistics about editors typically appear in endnotes long after questions about specific arguments have naturally come to mind. …