"This book is in effect two in one. One part shows how some London bookseller-publishers, together with their authors, were able to support the case for the American revolutionaries, as they were forced to become. In particular, it tells the story of John Stockdale and his relationship with four American Presidents, and two early American authors." "It also gives a unique, intimate account of an eighteenth-century bookshop at work, revealing at the same time the problems of the emerging United States book trade. It is an important book for readers of American and British history and for those who respect the Freedom of the Press."--BOOK JACKET.