Pamphlets

I am reading a book about the Constitutional Convention, and one interesting detail is how many of the men in attendance made their name by authoring a really explosive pamphlet. The author gives us a roster of the attendees, and is repeatedly like, “Smith was primarily known for an especially influential pamphlet he wrote on the topic of blah blah” or “Greene made a name for himself with a real barnstormer of a pamphlet he distributed throughout the Colonies when blah blah.” (Neither of these are actual examples.)

We don’t get many pamphlets these days, do we? I don’t even know where I’d find myself a pamphlet were I to go in search of one. And I don’t know a single politician today whose career was forged by way of a pamphlet.

Is the modern day pamphlet the viral Tweet thread? Probably!