Author Ken Weiss and I share at least one thing in common — we were both editorial page editors. It was there that letters to the editor did more than just fill space. They frequently packed both wisdom and punch. Now Weiss has resurrected some of the best letters of the past, and they remarkably are as relevant today as the day they were written. It’s a great read.

– Mike M. Ahlers, Former Senior Editor, CNN

If a reminder that the more things change, the more they remain the same is necessary Ken Weiss has provided it in Still Trending. We have been here before as this richly researched chronicle of American life from the public response to the War of 1812 to the Spanish Flu epidemic to modern times amply illustrates. This is a fascinating and sweeping tour of American history and how citizens reached mass audiences from soap box to 19th century broadsheets to social media.

– Christopher Corbett, author of “Orphans Preferred: The Twisted Truth and Lasting Legend of the Pony Express” and “The Poker Bride: The First Chinese in the Wild West”

Kenneth Weiss weaves intriguing parallels between modern history and the tendrils of our past with exhaustive research and often delicious detail — the British soldiers not only burned the White House but drank President Madison’s wine! It’s a reminder of the very human roots of our current times and a hope that we might learn from previous ones.

– Leslie Gray Streeter, Author of “Black Widow” and a columnist for The Baltimore Banner news website

With Still Trending, Ken Weiss has penned a definitive account of how the rise of social media platforms has coarsened our dialogue even as its warp-speed madness links back to journalism’s age-old DNA. Weiss has cast his scholarly lens both widely and deeply, serving up compelling narratives of how we’ve gotten here and where we might go next. His book is sure to win a prominent place in any media maker’s reference library.

– Ramsey Flynn, author of “Cry from the Deep: The Sinking of the Kursk, the Submarine Disaster that Riveted the World and Put the New Russia to the Ultimate Test” and a winner of the National Magazine Award for Reporting

Kenneth Weiss has mined rich material from newspapers of the past on a wide range of controversies, including contested elections, abortion, and responses to epidemics, and in doing so, has revealed echoes to the controversies of our times. With generous excerpts from these primary sources, there is fascinating material on every page.

– Matthew Mulcahy, Professor of History and Associate Dean for the Humanities at Loyola University Maryland