This scholarly work deals specifically with the important changes in popular journalism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A pioneering study in the history of journalism, it is the first volume to focus on the history of the New Journalism in Britain, which is central in the overall history of the modern press. Written by leading scholars representing a variety of disciplines, the fourteen essays provide a careful historical analysis of the transformation that took place in journalism, and the innovations that occurred, such as the greater use of illustrations and photographs, headlines and crossheads, and increased coverage of human interest subjects. The authors take different positions on aspects of the New Journalism, and the book offers a wealth of new information based on original research, as well as lively, interpretive commentary on the nature of change in modern journalism and its relationship to popular culture.

The in-depth examination of major subject areas, such as The Beginnings of the New Journalism, The Flowering of the New Journalism, and Subjects and Audiences, dispels the simplistic view of the New Journalism as occurring within a short period of time by showing that the changes took place slowly and had many ramifications. The annotated bibliography includes studies of individual newspapers and biographies of some of the leading journalists.