Winner of the 2015 Audie Award for History/Biography and Finalist for Audiobook of the YearAudie Award, History/Biography, 2015After Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, Doris Kearns Goodwin wields her magic on another larger-than-life president, and another momentous and raucous American time period as she brings Theodore Roosevelt, the muckraking journalists, and the Progressive Era to life. As she focused on the relationships between Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt in No Ordinary Time, and on Lincoln and his team in Team of Rivals, Goodwin describes the broken friendship between Teddy Roosevelt and his chosen successor, William Howard Taft. With the help of the "muckraking" press - including legendary journalists Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, William Allen White, and editor Sam McClure - Roosevelt had wielded the Bully Pulpit to challenge and triumph over abusive monopolies, political bosses, and corrupting money brokers. Roosevelt led a revolution that he bequeathed to Taft only to see it compromised as Taft surrendered to money men and big business. The rupture between the two led Roosevelt to run against Taft for president, an ultimately futile race that resulted in the election of Democrat Woodrow Wilson and the diminishment of Theodore Roosevelt's progressive wing of the Republican Party. Like Goodwin's chronicles of the Civil War and the Great Depression, The Bully Pulpit describes a time in our history that enlightened and changed the country, ushered in the modern age, and produced some unforgettable men and women. Read more

Pulitzer Prize–winning author and presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin’s dynamic history of Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft and the first decade of the Progressive era, that tumultuous time when the nation was coming unseamed and reform was in the air. Winner of the Carnegie Medal.Doris Kearns Goodwin’s The Bully Pulpit is a dynamic history of the first decade of the Progressive era, that tumultuous time when the nation was coming unseamed and reform was in the air. The story is told through the intense friendship of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft—a close relationship that strengthens both men before it ruptures in 1912, when they engage in a brutal fight for the presidential nomination that divides their wives, their children, and their closest friends, while crippling the progressive wing of the Republican Party, causing Democrat Woodrow Wilson to be elected, and changing the country’s history. The Bully Pulpit is also the story of the muckraking press, which arouses the spirit of reform that helps Roosevelt push the government to shed its laissez-faire attitude toward robber barons, corrupt politicians, and corporate exploiters of our natural resources. The muckrakers are portrayed through the greatest group of journalists ever assembled at one magazine—Ida Tarbell, Ray Stannard Baker, Lincoln Steffens, and William Allen White—teamed under the mercurial genius of publisher S.S. McClure. Goodwin’s narrative is founded upon a wealth of primary materials. The correspondence of more than four hundred letters between Roosevelt and Taft begins in their early thirties and ends only months before Roosevelt’s death. Edith Roosevelt and Nellie Taft kept diaries. The muckrakers wrote hundreds of letters to one another, kept journals, and wrote their memoirs. The letters of Captain Archie Butt, who served as a personal aide to both Roosevelt and Taft, provide an intimate view of both men. The Bully Pulpit, like Goodwin’s brilliant chronicles of the Civil War and World War II, exquisitely demonstrates her distinctive ability to combine scholarly rigor with accessibility. It is a major work of history—an examination of leadership in a rare moment of activism and reform that brought the country closer to its founding ideals. Read more

The New York Times best-selling author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor uses the same skills to teach how to access accurate information in a rapidly changing 24/7 news cycle and become better readers, thinkers, and consumers of media. We live in an information age, but it is increasingly difficult to know which information to trust. Fake news is rampant in mass media, stoked by foreign powers wishing to disrupt a democratic society. We need to be more perceptive, more critical, and more judicious readers. The future of our republic may depend on it. How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor is more careful, more attentive, more aware reading. On bookstore shelves, one book looks as authoritative as the next. Online, posts and memes don’t announce their relative veracity. It is up to readers to establish how accurate, how thorough, how fair material may be. After laying out general principles of reading nonfiction, How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor offers advice for specific reading strategies in various genres from histories and biographies to science and technology to social media. Throughout, the emphasis will be on understanding writers’ biases, interrogating claims, analyzing arguments, remaining wary of broad assertions and easy answers, and thinking critically about the written and spoken materials readers encounter. We can become better citizens through better reading, and the time for that is now. Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio. Read more

Infamous Scribblers is a perceptive and witty exploration of the most volatile period in the history of the American press. News correspondent and renonwned media historian Eric Burns tells of Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and Sam Adams—the leading journalists among the Founding Fathers; of George Washington and John Adams, the leading disdainers of journalists; and Thomas Jefferson, the leading manipulator of journalists. These men and the writers who abused and praised them in print (there was, at the time, no job description of "journalist") included the incendiary James Franklin, Ben's brother and one of the first muckrakers; the high minded Thomas Paine; the hatchet man James Callender, and a rebellious crowd of propagandists, pamphleteers, and publishers. It was Washington who gave this book its title. He once wrote of his dismay at being "buffited in the public prints by a set of infamous scribblers." The journalism of the era was often partisan, fabricated, overheated, scandalous, sensationalistic and sometimes stirring, brilliant, and indispensable. Despite its flaws—even because of some of them—the participants hashed out publicly the issues that would lead America to declare its independence and, after the war, to determine what sort of nation it would be. Read more

Infamous Scribblers is a perceptive and witty exploration of the most volatile period in the history of the American press. News correspondent and renowned media historian Eric Burns tells of Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and Sam Adams -- the leading journalists among the Founding Fathers; of George Washington and John Adams, the leading disdainers of journalists; and Thomas Jefferson, the leading manipulator of journalists. These men and the writers who abused and praised them in print (there was, at the time, no job description of "journalist") included the incendiary James Franklin, Ben's brother and one of the first muckrakers; the high minded Thomas Paine; the hatchet man James Callender, and a rebellious crowd of propagandists, pamphleteers, and publishers. It was Washington who gave this book its title. He once wrote of his dismay at being "buffited in the public prints by a set of infamous scribblers." The journalism of the era was often partisan, fabricated, overheated, scandalous, sensationalistic and sometimes stirring, brilliant, and indispensable. Despite its flaws -- even because of some of them -- the participants hashed out publicly the issues that would lead America to declare its independence and, after the war, to determine what sort of nation it would be. Read more

Toward a Theory of True Crime Narratives vivifies how nonfiction murder stories are told, what role they play in society, and in the form of true crime why they remain enduringly popular internationally on every platform. This book establishes for the first time the actual line―or dotted line―between mainstream journalism and the multimedia phenomena of true crime. Presenting a stable definition of what is―and what is not―true crime will either challenge or justify Truman Capote’s claims regarding the creation of a "new journalism" with In Cold Blood, and accordingly expose the reluctance of the promoters of NPR’s Serial, HBO’s The Jinx, and Netflix’s Making a Murderer to refer to their products as such. This research codifies true crime texts of various types on multiple platforms―radio, television, print, digital, and film―to reveal the defining characteristics of the genre. Read more

None

W.H. Auden famously wrote: “Poetry makes nothing happen.” Journalism is a different matter. In a brilliant study that is, in part, a memoir of his 40 years as an essayist and critic at TIME magazine, Lance Morrow returns to the Age of Typewriters and to the 20th century’s extraordinary cast of characters—statesmen and dictators, saints and heroes, liars and monsters, and the reporters, editors, and publishers who interpreted their deeds. He shows how journalism has touched the history of the last 100 years, has shaped it, distorted it, and often proved decisive in its outcomes.Lord Beaverbrook called journalism “the black art.” Morrow considers the case of Walter Duranty, the New York Times’ Moscow correspondent who published a Pulitzer Prize-winning series praising Stalin just at the moment when Stalin imposed mass starvation upon the people of Ukraine and the North Caucasus in order to enforce the collectivization of Soviet agriculture. Millions died.John Hersey’s Hiroshima, on the other hand, has been all but sanctified—called the 20th century’s greatest piece of journalism. Was it? Morrow examines the complex moral politics of Hersey’s reporting, which the New Yorker first published in 1946.The Noise of Typewriters is, among other things, an intensely personal study of an age that has all but vanished. Morrow is the son of two journalists who got their start covering Roosevelt and Truman. When Morrow and Carl Bernstein were young, they worked together as dictation typists at the Washington Star (a newspaper now extinct). Bernstein had dedicated Chasing History, his memoir of those days, to Morrow. It was Morrow’s friend and editor Walter Isaacson—biographer of Leonardo Da Vinci, Albert Einstein, and Steve Jobs—who taught Morrow how to use a computer when the machines were first introduced at TIME.Here are striking profiles of Henry Luce, TIME’s founder, and of Dorothy Thompson, Claud Cockburn, Edgar Snow, Joseph and Stewart Alsop, Joan Didion, Norman Mailer, Otto Friedrich, Michael Herr, and other notable figures in a golden age of print journalism that ended with the coming of television, computers, and social media. The Noise of Typewriters is the vivid portrait of an era. Read more

A timely new edition of the classic journalism text, now featuring updated material on the importance of reporting in the age of media mistrust and fake news—and how journalists can use technology to navigate its challengesMore than two decades ago, the Committee of Concerned Journalists gathered some of America’s most influential newspeople and asked them, “What is journalism for?” Through exhaustive research, surveys, interviews, and public forums, the committee identified the essential elements that define journalism and its role in our society. The result is one of the most important books on media ever written—winner of the Goldsmith Book Prize from Harvard, a Society of Professional Journalists Award, and the Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism from Penn State University.Updated with new material covering the ways journalists can leverage technology to their advantage, especially given the shifting revenue architecture of news—and with the future of news, facts, and democracy never more in question—this fourth edition of The Elements of Journalism is the authoritative guide for journalists, students, and anyone hoping to stay informed in contentious times. Read more

How the current epidemic of news deserts and ghost papers threatens democracyGhosting the News tells the most troubling media story of our time: How democracy suffers when local news dies. From 2004 to 2015, 1,800 print newspaper outlets closed in the U.S. One in five news organizations in Canada has closed since 2008. One in three Brazilians lives in news deserts. The absence of accountability journalism has created an atmosphere in which indicted politicians were elected, school superintendents were mismanaging districts, and police chiefs were getting mysterious payouts. This is not the much-discussed fake-news problem—it's the separate problem of a critical shortage of real news.America’s premier media critic, Margaret Sullivan, charts the contours of the damage, and surveys a range of new efforts to keep local news alive—from non-profit digital sites to an effort modeled on the Peace Corps. No nostalgic paean to the roar of rumbling presses, Ghosting the News instead sounds a loud alarm, alerting citizens to a growing crisis in local news that has already done serious damage.“An excellent introduction to the essential problem of our republic. With a wake-up call like this one, we still have a chance.” ―Timothy Snyder Read more

From Derek Hunter—one of the most entertaining political writers today—comes an insightful, alarming look at how progressives have taken over academia, pop culture, and journalism in order to declare everything liberal great, and everything great, liberal. Progressives love to attack conservatives as anti-science, wallowing in fake news, and culturally backwards. But who are the real denialists here? There are three institutions in American life run by gatekeepers who have stopped letting in anyone who questions their liberal script: academia, journalism, and pop culture. They use their cult-like groupthink consensus as "proof" that science, reporting, and entertainment will always back up the Democrats. They give their most political members awards, and then say the awards make their liberal beliefs true. Worse, they are using that consensus to pull the country even further to the left, by bullying and silencing dissent from even those they've allowed in. Just a few years ago, the media pretended they were honest brokers. Now a CNN segment is seven liberals versus a sacrificial lamb. MSNBC ate their sacrificial lamb. Well, Chris Matthews did. Tired of being forced to believe or else, Derek Hunter exposes the manufactured truths and unwritten commandments of the Establishment. With research and a biting, sarcastic wit, he explains:The growing role of celebrities in the political world, and movies with a "message" that dominate awards season, but rarely the box office.The unquestioning reporting on "studies" that don’t prove what they say they prove.The hidden bias of "fact-checking," when the media cherry picks which facts they check.Celebrity scientists like Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson blending liberal activism with pretend expertise outside their fields.Clever, controversial, and convincing, Derek Hunter's book gets to the root of America's biggest cultural war lies. Read more

High White Notes is the first in-depth analysis of the complete writings of Hunter S. Thompson, one of the most misunderstood authors of the 20th century. His Gonzo journalism was an odd fusion of fact and fiction that garnered widespread adoration but perhaps for all the wrong reasons.In this book, David S. Wills traces the outlaw journalist's life from birth to death, exploring how Thompson developed his unique literary voice and why he used such odd techniques to craft a form of prose that defied categorization. This book not only explores Thompson's meteoric rise to literary superstardom but also charts the rapid decline in the quality of his work that came after his 1972 foray into political reporting.This book dispels a great many myths about Thompson’s life, analyzes his work as never before, and asks difficult questions about his work. By cutting through the legends and exploring Thompson’s deliberate hybridization of fact and fiction, Wills aims to set the Gonzo author in his proper literary context, alongside other greats of the 20th century. Read more

“The irrepressible Derek Hunter defiantly runs toward this out-of-control liberal mob and beats back the bullies with truth.” —Michelle Malkin, #1 New York Times-bestselling authorThere are three institutions in American life run by gatekeepers who have stopped letting in anyone who questions their liberal script: academia, journalism, and pop culture. They use their cult-like groupthink consensus as “proof” that science, reporting, and entertainment will always back up the Democrats. They give their most political members awards, and then say the awards make their liberal beliefs true. Worse, they are using that consensus to pull the country even further to the left, by bullying and silencing dissent from even those they’ve allowed in.Just a few years ago, the media pretended they were honest brokers. Now a CNN segment is seven liberals versus a sacrificial lamb. MSNBC ate their sacrificial lamb. Well, Chris Matthews did. Tired of being forced to believe or else, Derek Hunter exposes the manufactured truths and unwritten commandments of the Establishment. With research and a biting, sarcastic wit, he explains:The growing role of celebrities in the political world, and movies with a “message” that dominate awards season, but rarely the box office.The unquestioning reporting on “studies” that don’t prove what they say they prove.The hidden bias of “fact-checking,” when the media cherry picks which facts they check.Celebrity scientists like Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson blending liberal activism with pretend expertise outside their fields.Clever, controversial, and convincing, Derek Hunter’s book gets to the root of America’s biggest cultural war lies.“Packed with thorough research, keen insight, and biting humor.” —David Limbaugh, #1 New York Times-bestselling author Read more

This book is an anthology of the writing of Wilfred Burchett, perhaps the greatest journalist and war correspondent Australia has ever produced. He was also one of the most controversial figures of the Cold War, both in Australia and overseas. Burchett published more than 30 books, and this volume brings together extracts from most of these, spanning the entire breadth of his career, from before World War 2, through Hiroshima, Eastern Europe, Korea, Russia, Laos, Cambodia, China, Vietnam, Angola, Rhodesia and other areas from which Burchett reported. The book presents these fields of reportage chronologically, and thus serves not only as a significant historical overview of the period, but also as a reader in Cold War journalism. Read more

Using practical assignments, the authors take each area of journalism, and demonstrate the world which awaits journalists in the early years of their careers. Each of the assignments spins off a number of tasks which are presented to the reader in the form of briefings, and can be used as a basis for further study. Notes and references are provided with each of the tasks to guide the student and help them understand fully each area of practice. There are also exercises on page planning and design. Workshop projects and study programmes outline ways in which students and trainees in groups or singly can analyse newspaper content, build up readership profiles and consider different methods of practice, social and political attitudes to the media, press regulations and press economics. This book will also be an invaluable purchase for students using distance learning packs. Read more

“Should be on the reading list of every journalism school and law school in this country.” —Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune

In 1983, Anthony Porter was convicted of the brutal double murder of Marilyn Green and Jerry Hillard. While sitting in the bleachers near Chicago’s Washington Park swimming pool, the victims were shot multiple times at point-blank range. Porter was sentenced to death.

In 1998, within fifty hours of Porter’s scheduled execution, the Illinois Supreme Court granted a stay, pending a hearing on Porter’s mental competency. At this point, journalism professor David Protess and his Northwestern University Innocence Project students took up Porter’s cause. Soon, Porter was released from prison, and Alstory Simon, then a Milwaukee resident, was convicted of the Washington Park homicides.

But that’s not the end of the story. Nor is it all of the story. Simon himself has now been exonerated and is suing Northwestern University, David Protess, and two other individuals for more than $40 million in punitive damages. This is the true story of how and why Alstory Simon replaced Anthony Porter in prison. Read more

The perfect text for students wanting to build essential skills or prepare for a journalism career! Read more

From an NPR veteran, a “comprehensive and lucid” guide to “the values and practices that yield stellar audio journalism” (Booklist).Maybe you’re thinking about starting a podcast, and want some tips from the pros. Or perhaps storytelling has always been a passion of yours, and you want to learn to do it more effectively. Whatever the case—whether you’re an avid NPR listener or you aspire to create your own audio, or both—Sound Reporting: The NPR Guide to Audio Journalism and Production will give you a rare tour of the world of a professional broadcaster.Jonathan Kern, a former executive producer of All Things Considered who has trained NPR’s on-air staff for years, is a gifted guide, able to narrate a day in the life of a host and lay out the nuts and bolts of production with both wit and warmth. Along the way, he explains the importance of writing the way you speak, reveals how NPR books guests ranging from world leaders to neighborhood newsmakers, and gives sage advice on everything from proposing stories to editors to maintaining balance and objectivity. Best of all—because NPR wouldn’t be NPR without its array of distinctive voices—lively examples from popular shows and colorful anecdotes from favorite personalities animate each chapter.As public radio’s audience of millions can attest, NPR’s unique guiding principles and technical expertise combine to connect with listeners like no other medium can. With today’s technologies allowing more people to turn their home computers into broadcast studios, Sound Reporting is a valuable guide that reveals the secrets behind NPR’s success. Read more

Built using the hands-on and pioneering Missouri Method, this textbook prepares readers to write about and communicate with people of different backgrounds, offering real-world examples of how to practice excellent journalism and strategic communication that takes culture into account.No matter the communication purpose, this book will help readers engage with difference and the concept of fault lines, and to identify and mitigate bias. It provides guidance on communicating the complexity inherent in issues such as crime, immigration, and sports, and understanding census data gathering methods and terms to craft stories or strategic campaigns. Above all, the book encourages readers to reconsider assumptions about race, class, gender, identity, sexual orientation, immigration status, religion, disability, and age, and recognize communicators’ responsibilities in shaping national discussions. This new edition addresses the ever-changing political and social climate, differentiates excellent journalism from punditry, and shows the business value of understanding diverse perspectives.A fantastic introduction to this complex but important field, this book is perfect for students, teachers, and early career communicators. The combintion of a hands-on approach and pull-out boxes with the diverse voices curated by editors María Len-Ríos and Earnest Perry make this an ideal text for the classroom and beyond. Read more

2016 update to Grassroots Journalism, second edition Read more