Informing a Nation: The Newspaper Presidency of Thomas Jefferson.

This article reviews Mel Laracey's book *Informing a Nation: The Newspaper Presidency of Thomas Jefferson*, which examines Jefferson's strategic use of the *National Intelligencer*, a partisan newspaper, to shape public opinion and articulate Republican ideals during his presidency. Laracey argues that Jefferson's reliance on this "presidential newspaper" challenges traditional views of presidential rhetoric by demonstrating an early form of direct mass political communication predating the twentieth-century "rhetorical presidency." The book traces Jefferson's influence on the newspaper's content across key political events, including the 1800 election, judicial controversies, and the Louisiana Purchase, highlighting how the *Intelligencer* functioned as a tool for defining national identity and political ideology. While primarily a political history, the work offers interdisciplinary insights valuable to scholars of presidential rhetoric, media history, and political communication.