- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: William Morrow (Mar 2 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0380978210
- ISBN-13: 978-0380978212
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 14.7 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 544 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,167,767 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From 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. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
MSNBC celebrity reporter Walls traces the evolution of gossip in the media from the 1950s through the 1990s. The heyday of celebrity columnists Hedda Hopper, Louella Parsons, and Walter Winchell ushered in the first star scandal sheet, Confidential, in 1952 and with it a host of imitators like Hush-Hush and Uncensored. Later that decade, the National Enquirer paired celebrity exploitation and gore to reach new circulation heights. Television followed with provocative interviews of the famous, thinly veiled as news reporting. Walls dishes up plenty of gossip while chronicling the escalating American lust for insider information on celebrities. She recounts controversies surrounding the deaths of Elvis, Marilyn, and Princess Di and run-ins between the media and Cher, Donald Trump, Michael Jackson, and others. Both an entertaining insider's look and a solid history of gossip, this will be popular in public libraries and has a place in research collections on media and popular culture.
-Kelli N. Perkins, Herrick Dist. Lib., Holland, MI
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
-Kelli N. Perkins, Herrick Dist. Lib., Holland, MI
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.1 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
33 of 34 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fascinating look at the merger of news and sleaze., April 18 2000
By MLPlayfair - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Dish: The Inside Story on the World of Gossip (Hardcover)
I'm not sure what I expected from this book when I picked it up. With Princess Grace on the cover (it doesn't talk about her at all) and a chapter about Diana, I guess I thought it would be about how great women took the hounding by the media. Well, it sort of is. But mostly it's about the gossip reporters, and about how the news industry, over the last few decades, slowly but solidly lost its integrity and turned toward sleaze for ratings and "scoops." Fascinating stuff! It doesn't so much repeat the gossip as it does tell how reporters get their story and what they do with it. I couldn't put this book down, except that every once in a while the sleaze factor was so great, I had to go and bathe just to feel clean again. There were parts I didn't really find captivating, but others where I laughed out loud, mostly at someone's arrogance. There's something in here for everybody. Easy to read, well written. I wanted more!
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dish: The Inside Story on the World of Gossip, April 10 2000
By andy behrman - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Dish: The Inside Story on the World of Gossip (Hardcover)
Dish was an incredibly entertaining book that read like a thriller of the gossip industry - - I don't think I put the book down more than two or three times. I was fascinated by the history of the world of gossip that the author traces from Confidential to the Enquirer to the birth of tabloid television. Interspersed throughout the book, the author manages to skillfully "drop" gossip of her own about celebrities, past and present, adding an "up to the minute" feeling to the book. If you're a media junkie, it's a must read!
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
a piece of history, Mar 8 2000
By sandra pearson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Dish: The Inside Story on the World of Gossip (Hardcover)
At first glance I thought Ms Walls was going to tell me more about gossip than I really needed to know. After reading DISH, I was impressed by how well she kept my attention to the whole topic because she actually writes as a serious journalist giving the history of a form that is a well established part of our culture. The book is entertaining and informative and moves as a very rapid pace. I think it will delight all those readers who followed the news of previous celebrity watchers. It is well researched and written in a story fashion that does not lag. I couldn't put it down
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