Dish
The Inside Story On The World Of Gossip Became the News and How the News Became Just Another Show
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3.4 • 67 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
From Jeannette Walls, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle, now a major motion picture, comes an incisive study of our obsession with gossip.
"A fascinating, dishy story." -Booklist
Gossip. It's more than just hearsay, society columns, and supermarket tabloids. It has, like it or not, become a mainstay of American pop culture. In Dish, industry insider Jeannette Walls gives this provocative subject its due, offering a comprehensive, serious exploration of gossip and its social, historical, and political significance. Examining the topic from the inside out, Walls looks at the players; the origins of gossip, from birth of People magazine to the death of Lady Di; and how technology including the Internet will continue to change the face gossip. As compelling and seductive as its subject matter, Dish brilliantly reveals the fascinating inner workings of a phenomenon that is definitely here to stay.
This deep dive into the history of news and celebrity culture reveals:
The Trial of Confidential Magazine: Go inside the landmark 1957 case that put scandal itself on the stand and forever changed the rules of Hollywood journalism.The Rise of Walter Winchell: Discover how one man invented the modern gossip column, wielding immense power and reaching ninety percent of the American public at his peak.The Birth of Tabloid Television: Follow the shift from print to screen, from the early days of Mike Wallace’s confrontational interviews to the network newsmagazine wars.The Internet's Impact on News: See how modern figures like Matt Drudge and the rise of the "citizen reporter" blurred the line between news and gossip for good.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Who wouldn't want to know who Peter Lawford called to "clean" Marilyn Monroe's apartment hours after her death? Or Eddie Fisher's blunt views about dating Jewish women? Or what deal Ted Kennedy made with the National Enquirer to suppress the more incriminating stories about him? Like it or not, gossip is an integral part of our information-driven world; even many who decry its increasing prevalence in mainstream news venues enjoy and even relish it. Walls, a former gossip columnist for the E! Channel and novelist (Pest Control), has written a well-researched, witty history of the role gossip has played in U.S. media, politics and life. While she doesn't hesitate to produce plenty of choice information in the course of her survey, her intent is serious and well executed. Organizing her book around specific historical moments in the gossip industry's evolution--the rise and fall of Confidential Magazine in the 1950s, the power that Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper wielded in Hollywood, Elvis's death (and the endless refutations of it), Tina Brown's editorship at the New Yorker--Walls deftly examines and illuminates her main points: among them, that public figures exploit and benefit from "gossip" as much as they claim to be harassed and harmed by it (Princess Diana is a perfect example); that the thin line between "news" and "gossip" always depends on the media's biases and self-interests (JFK's not-very-secret affair with Monroe); and that the concept of "privacy" for public figures is always political (Monicagate). Provocative and invariably entertaining, Walls gives dishing the dirt its historical, social and political due.
