Ahead of the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, media historian Heather Hendershot discusses her book When the News Broke: Chicago 1968 and the Polarizing of America, a riveting, blow-by-blow account of how the network broadcasts of the 1968 Democratic Convention shattered faith in American media. She sits down with historian Kevin Boyle to discuss these themes and shows how this historic moment has lead to our current media ecosystem and where we go from here.
This conversation originally took place May 19, 2024 and was recorded live at the American Writers Festival.
About the writers:
HEATHER HENDERSHOT is the Cardiss Collins Professor of Communication Studies and Journalism at Northwestern University. Her most recent books are When the News Broke: Chicago 1968 and the Polarizing of America and Open to Debate: How William F. Buckley Put Liberal America on the Firing Line.
KEVIN BOYLE is the William Smith Mason Professor of American History at Northwestern University. Years ago, he stumbled across an obscure photo of a Chicago neighborhood celebrating the Fourth of July 1961. From that image – and the story it tells – he’s built The Shattering, his new history of the 1960s. His previous book, Arc of Justice, won the National Book Award for non-fiction and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He’s also the author of The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism, 1948-1968 and co-author of Muddy Boots and Ragged Aprons. His essays and reviews have appeared in The Washington Post, the New York Times, the Baltimore Sun, the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit Free Press, and other newspapers and magazines. He and his wife, Victoria Getis, now live in Evanston, IL with their manic one-year old Australian shepherd and, from time to time, with their marvelous daughters, Abby and Nan.
