The biggest crime story in American history began on the night of March
1, 1932, when the twenty-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh was
snatched from his crib in Hopewell, New Jersey. The news shocked a
nation enthralled with the aviator, the first person to fly solo nonstop
across the Atlantic. American law enforcement marshalled all its
resources to return "Little Lindy" to the arms of his parents--and
perhaps even more energized were the legions of journalists catering to
a public whose appetite for Lindbergh news was insatiable.
In Little Lindy Is Kidnapped, Thomas Doherty offers a lively and
comprehensive cultural history of the media coverage of the abduction
and its aftermath. Beginning with Lindbergh's ascent to fame and
proceeding through the trial and execution of the accused kidnapper,
Doherty traces how newspapers, radio, and newsreels reported on what was
dubbed the "crime of the century." He casts the affair as a
transformative moment for American journalism, analyzing how the case
presented new challenges and opportunities for each branch of the media
in the days before the rise of television. Coverage of the Lindbergh
story, Doherty reveals, set the template for the way the media would
treat breaking news ever after. An engrossing account of an endlessly
fascinating case, Little Lindy Is Kidnapped sheds new light on an
enduring quality of journalism ever since: the media's eye on a crucial
part of the story--itself.
