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On the Bookshelf

Brief reviews of some books I've read lately:

“Hard News,” by Seth Mnookin- This standout book is a must-read for any media junkie, and will clearly take its place as THE definitive account of the Jayson Blair/Howell Raines scandal at the New York Times. Coming across almost like a thriller, the best thing I can say about Mnookin’s book is that it maintains interest throughout, even for the reader who knows how everything is going to turn out.

“Blog,” by Hugh Hewitt- Blogger and radio host Hewitt presents an overview of the first few years of the blog phenomenon, telling the various stories (Trent Lott, Raines, Dan Rather, etc.), and discussing the ways various political activists and business interests can use the Blogosphere to their advantage. But the entire book is undermined because- as with everything Hewitt writes- everything else is subordinate to fanatical Republican partisanship. Hewitt has lots of insights about where the Blogosphere has gone and where it’s going, but he seems to only care about blogs to the end in which they reinforce his political goals.

“Attack Poodles,” by James Wolcott- Vanity Fair media columnist and blogger Wolcott is capable of being very cutting and funny, but this book is like a left-wing version of Hewitt’s- the book will hold absolutely zero appeal to anyone who doesn’t share the author’s political leanings, and Wolcott’s anti-Bush bile is way too angry to be funny. As Hewitt yammers on about a mainstream media that “leans way left,” Wolcott’s thesis is the opposite, and just as wrong: rather than mount just another anti-Fox News critique, Wolcott believe the entire media gives Bush too much of a free ride- and therefore his enemies list includes people like Thomas Friedman, on top of the usual denunciations O’Reilly and Co. It’s also not cool that the book lifts huge chunks of several of Wolcott’s earlier VF pieces, without labeling them as such.

“The Hipster Handbook,” by Robert Lanham- This comical book is either meant to make fun of hipsters, or those who make fun of them- even after reading it, I’m still not sure. That’s because the book, which deconstructs hundreds hipster archetypes that indisputably DO exist, yet also makes up several others that don’t- one of which, the idea of “deck” meaning cool, made its way into a “Sopranos” episode last year. Read the book, just don’t take it too seriously.

On the shelf: Jim Caple’s “The Devil Wears Pinstripes,” Christopher Hitchens’ “Love, Poverty, and War,” and King/O’Nan’s “Faithful.”

Posted by Stephen Silver at March 14, 2005 03:05 AM