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The George Seldes Reader
George Seldes didn't just report history--he made it. The gadfly of American journalism interviewed all of the important men of his generation ranging from Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin, to FDR and Harry Truman. Seldes' weekly newsletter In Fact put newspapers to the test of honesty and accuracy. Seldes books such as Lords Of The Press are still used in journalism schools. This collection of his finest writing offers a sweeping view of the twentieth century.
- GenresJournalism
448 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1994
About the author
George Seldes
79 books25 followersInvestigative reporter and muckraking journalist. Author of twenty-one books. Publisher of a political newsletter called "In Fact." Crusader for press freedom. Dissenter and freethinker. One of the first to expose the dangers of tobacco smoking. Born in New Jersey, died in Vermont.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 19, 2020
This book is amazing for several reasons: 1. it has excerpts from many of Seldes' books that are out of print. 2. his progressive journalism is critical to learning much of history that has been left out of other books and newspapers. 3. his work is relevant to today's political problems and shows that history is repeating itself and very little has changed.
Seldes chronicled much of the 20th century, publishing reports from WWI past Watergate. He focused on exposing corruption and lies throughout government, big business associations and corporations, the military, and so much more. He documents racism, violence against the working class and poor people, and shows how newspaper businesses were corrupted by advertisers and political right-wing ideology starting way back in 1920's. He had his own publication called In Fact for many years in which he published news suppressed by other outlets.
He spent extended time in Italy during the time of Mussolini and became very familiar with the Fascist ideology. He documents the threat of Fascism in the U.S., including an attempted Fascist coup in 1934. A hushed-up hearing in the U.S. Congress happened only because the famous General Smedley Butler (who wrote War is a Racket) refused to participate and became a whistleblower who insisted on going public and going on the record. A group of Wall Street bankers and other businessmen (names are named) tried to pay Butler to lead an army to take over and push out Franklin Roosevelt. The excerpt on this in the book is called "A Man on Horseback" and was originally published in 1937 in a book called You Can't Do That.
There are so many great articles included. Besides A Man on Horseback, ones I particularly liked were: When Blood is Their Argument, Ave Caesar!, What are You Going to Do About It?, A Pattern of Behavior, A Short History of American Redbaiting, Facts and Fascism, One Man's Newspaper Game, Why Can't We Tell the Truth: Reporters Answer, Ken: The Inside Story, Is the Entire Press Corrupt? and Post Watergate: Today's Sacred Cows.
All educated people should become familiar with George Seldes. There is also an excellent video documentary about him called Tell the Truth and Run, which I saw and prompted me to seek out this book.
Seldes chronicled much of the 20th century, publishing reports from WWI past Watergate. He focused on exposing corruption and lies throughout government, big business associations and corporations, the military, and so much more. He documents racism, violence against the working class and poor people, and shows how newspaper businesses were corrupted by advertisers and political right-wing ideology starting way back in 1920's. He had his own publication called In Fact for many years in which he published news suppressed by other outlets.
He spent extended time in Italy during the time of Mussolini and became very familiar with the Fascist ideology. He documents the threat of Fascism in the U.S., including an attempted Fascist coup in 1934. A hushed-up hearing in the U.S. Congress happened only because the famous General Smedley Butler (who wrote War is a Racket) refused to participate and became a whistleblower who insisted on going public and going on the record. A group of Wall Street bankers and other businessmen (names are named) tried to pay Butler to lead an army to take over and push out Franklin Roosevelt. The excerpt on this in the book is called "A Man on Horseback" and was originally published in 1937 in a book called You Can't Do That.
There are so many great articles included. Besides A Man on Horseback, ones I particularly liked were: When Blood is Their Argument, Ave Caesar!, What are You Going to Do About It?, A Pattern of Behavior, A Short History of American Redbaiting, Facts and Fascism, One Man's Newspaper Game, Why Can't We Tell the Truth: Reporters Answer, Ken: The Inside Story, Is the Entire Press Corrupt? and Post Watergate: Today's Sacred Cows.
All educated people should become familiar with George Seldes. There is also an excellent video documentary about him called Tell the Truth and Run, which I saw and prompted me to seek out this book.
April 21, 2020
Very informative.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews