1848: King of the French Press

France can do without a king, but it cannot do without Monsieur Dupont. He was the driving force behind the French press in the nineteenth century, an independent thinker who transcended party and class, and a monumental social critic whose words were a bugle, a torch, a cannonball, and a scalpel. In 1848, the February Revolution broke out. France, long a hotbed of revolution, changed from a kingdom into a republic, and Parisian newspapers' total circulation soared from 50,000 to 600,000 copies. To put food on the table, 18-year-old street correspondent Leon Dupont had no choice but to risk his life gathering news around the Tuileries Palace, where barricade fighting had erupted. Literary top-tier star Victor Hugo: I can only sing for France, but Leon Dupont can diagnose France's ills. The celebrated, free-spirited woman of letters George Sand: After seeing Leon's newspaper, The Warrior, I can't wait to go to Paris and kiss him. Emperor by popular vote Napoleon III: All my subjects see me as Napoleon, but only Leon Dupont sees me as Louis. The Rothschild family, financial giants: When Leon Dupont picks up his pen, the financial aristocracy of all Europe will tremble. The Schneider family, arms magnates: The Warrior, founded by Leon Dupont, has the firepower of three thousand 64-pounder smoothbore cannons. This is the story of the Fourth Estate (the press and mass media) coming into its own in nineteenth-century Europe. This book is also known as: The Secret Patron Behind France's Literary Greats, The Press Barons of 1848: In the Name of the French Press, King of France's Fourth Estate, and From Street Correspondent to Media Mogul in France...