From Publishers Weekly
Regular readers of Cockburn's stimulating and highly opinionated columns in the Nation and the Wall Street Journal, as well as his occasional articles in other publications, will hardly need any urging to snap up this first collection of his journalism. His work is pungent, witty and without pretense to that "objectivity" he so rightly sees as the bane of much written and all televised journalism. Cockburn is violently anti-Reagan, contemptuous of the press for having let him off so easily for most of his presidency and not optimistic about many of the Democrats now before the public. He is that rarityan old-fashioned socialist thoroughly in touch with his times. His political pieces are clearly arguable, though never less than ferociously entertaining. What may surprise those who know only that side of Cockburn, however, is the range of his interests as shown here: splendid pieces about the Ireland of his childhood, his much-loved father, the history and ideology of James Bond, the perils to good writing of the word processor, even the making of the movie Top Gun. For sheer quantity of thought-provoking entertainment the book is a bargain: and if the print is rather too small, at least it allowed the publishers to get more Cockburn between coversa worthy aim.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
The first 40 pages of this hefty selection of published political journalism and cultural observations focus on Cockburn's English roots. What follows is a barrage of criticism directed at the American Establishmentpress, television, government, and literaturefrom a perspective that mixes New Left pieties and platitudes with righteous indignation and tasteless sarcasm. Cockburn attacks Gay Talese, the Wheel of Fortune TV show, Baden-Powell (founder of the Boy Scouts), and the MacNeil-Lehrer Report. His sharp stings and mordant wit will convince few beyond the already converted, but most readers will find something entertaining in this potpourri. Jack Forman, Mesa Coll. Lib., San Diego
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
