Dish : the Inside Story On The World Of Gossip Became the News and How the News Became Just Another Show

"Provocative and invariably entertaining" a #1 New York Times bestselling author "gives dishing the dirt its historical, social and political due" ( Publishers Weekly ). From #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle , now a major motion picture, comes an incisive study of our obsession with gossip. 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 intriguing 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 of 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. "A history of how gossip became the news . . . Saucy, sassy . . ." —Los Angeles Times "Truly intelligent and absorbing." — The Boston Sunday Globe " Dish is a mouthful." — San Antonio Express News "A serious and accurate history of a persistent part of media coverage." —St . Louis Post-Dispatch "Extraordinary." —Don Imus "Hard to put down . . . Dish is irresistible." — US Weekly "It's an old-fashioned sideshow, high-spirited, mean-spirited, and plenty of guilty fun." — Kirkus Reviews "Strewn with delicious tidbits." — Entertainment Weekly Well-researched and intelligent." — New York Daily News "Both an entertaining insider's look and a solid history of gossip." — Library Journal "A fascinating, dishy story." — Booklist

Love it or hate it, create it or repeat it, America is obsessed with gossip. Here is a fascinating look at five decades of dish: a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the personalities that control what we read and see; the unholy and unchanging trinity of celebrity, publicist and reporter that has stoked the American appetite for gossip from the salad days of silver-screen magazines to the instantaneous communication of the scoop-filled Internet.

Insider Jeannette Walls delivers a tantalizing tell-all that features not only gossip itself, but its history, its movers and shakers (including quite a few tony Ivy Leaguers), high and low points, and the watershed events and personalities---like Elvis, Diana, Michael Jackson and O. J.---that altered it forever. Here is the famous formula for People, the astonishing magazine that began amid sneers and snipes but went on to become one of the publishing industry's greatest success stories. Here too is the incredible truth behind explosive material that didn't see the light of day.

From the humble beginnings of the National Enquirer, aided by the avuncular beneficence of crime kingpin Joe Costello, to the lurid Hollywood trial of Confidential magazine, where the "libeled" stars were proved more guilty than not of the salacious episodes the publication revealed, Jeannette Walls expertly traces the formation and development of the hush-hush industry. She shows us that tabloid TV shows are nothing new: they were preceded in the Fifties by the wildly successful Night Beat, hosted by none other than Mike Wallace, who turned the show into a forum for sex and scandal with his relentless prying and probing into the lives of celebrated figures.

Colorful, irreverent, romantic, skeptical, a master of comic asides, a bittersweet humorist, and an unflinching critic of human pretensions, Mark Twain speaks to us across time with verve and wisdom. On the occasion of the centennial of his death, Oxford is issuing a paperback set of our landmark 29 volume collection, The Oxford Mark Twain. In addition to gathering together most of the writings ever published by Twain in the U.S., each volume is introduced by one of our most eminent writers. Their essays combine critical insights and personal appreciations of Twain as a fellow writer. An interpretive essay by a leading scholar that sets the book in its context concludes each volume. At the heart of each is a facsimile edition of Twain's original which captures its contemporary flavor. Many include original illustrations which suggest the life and times of the books in a way that other editions cannot. This remarkable offering will be treasured by all lovers of literature. 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."

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.

"My reaction to having our speaker today at the National Press Club was the same as a lot of other members" Doug Harbrecht, the club's president and Business Week's Washington bureau chief, told the two hundred journalist gathered before him on the after of June 2, 1998. Walls examines the history of gossip, including the 1950s show, Night Beat with Mike Wallace, the National Enquirer, Confidential magazine, People magazine, the power of publicists, the power of rumors, presidential foibles, and such writers as Matt Drudge.