"A beautifully interdisciplinary work that effortlessly combines psychology, literature, and journalism studies to carve out its own frontier. I have never seen a book on a similar topic that is so readable, accessible, and vast in scope as this one."--Jan Whitt, author of Women in American Journalism: A New History

"One of the strengths of Underwood's approach . . . is his ability to interweave these traumatic histories into a seamless and compelling narrative of human experience."--Media International Australia

"Underwood rightly asks whether and how changing journalistic and literary production (the disappearing newsroom, the increasingly micro-technology we use to read and communicate, the changing nature of the printed word itself) might be altering the narration and consumption of trauma."--H-Net Reviews

"Fascinating. . . . Will make you look at some of your favorite authors—from Twain to Hemingway, Dickens to Defoe—in a fresh light."--American Journalism

"An intriguing, impressive, and original contribution that will inspire considerable thought about the history of journalism, the dynamic between a society's culture and its characteristic literature, and the impact of trauma on a writer's choice of literary subjects."--Nancy L. Roberts, coauthor of The Press and America: An Interpretive History of the Mass Media