"The Sun and The Moon": How a New York City newspaper found life on the moon in 1835.

As John's post below indicates, there are a lot of changes taking place in the newspaper business. New technologies and innovations are resulting in rapid change. In some ways, history is repeating itself. Back in the 1830s, the newspaper business also went through a rapid transformation. I know this because I just finished reading "The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth Century New York." It is a remarkable story, not only because it's true, but because how much of it relates to some of the same things we deal with today.

The author, Matthew Goodman, is an avid reader of AMERICAblog. The Economist ranked "The Sun and the Moon" as one of the best books of 2008 and it got a very good review in the Los Angeles Times.

The centerpiece of the story is an in-depth history of a hoax pulled off by one of New York City's first one-penny newspapers, The Sun. Before then, papers cost six cents and catered to the well-off.

For a period in the summer of 1835, New Yorkers were led to believe that there was life on the moon. And, many of them believed every word. In what became known as "The Moon" series, the editor wrote a multi-part report on the discovery of life on the moon complete with detailed descriptions of the creatures living in harmony on the lunar surface. New Yorkers clamored for the latest updates.

But, the backdrop of the book is the transforming newspaper business. The Sun and its fellow one-penny papers democratized the news and made it available to everyone, not just the well-to-do merchant types. They also provided more titillating news then had usually been reported -- including sordid court cases and wild rumors. These were the original tabloids. And, the competition among the media types was fierce -- they were brutal to each other in print.

Throughout the book, there are similarities between now and then. "The Moon" series highlighted the ongoing struggle between science and religion. Back then, much of the country was heavily influenced by religion. Colleges were basically religious institutions. Science was no different. You'd like to think times have changed, but eight years of the Bush administration showed us that struggle still exists.

The story also provides insight into the growing abolition movement. I was surprised to learn that in the 1830s, New York City had a pro-slavery bent, because of all the business it did with Southern states. Newspapers were defined by their views on slavery -- and many of the New York papers had no problem with it.

Some big names from the 1800s, like Edgar Allan Poe and P.T. Barnum, also make appearances.

Congrats to Matthew Goodman who did an amazing job with his book. I hadn't done much reading for fun in the past year, but "The Sun and The Moon" was fun and engaging. Anyone who has an interest in the media or the history of New York City or the struggle between religion and science would enjoy the read.