From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-A professor emeritus of communications at Sonoma State University, Jensen produces an annual summary of the news stories that were most neglected (or censored) by the mainstream media. From his work as director of Project Censored came the popular compilation, Twenty Years of Censored News (Seven Stories, 1997). This new volume collects a century's worth of American muckraking, focusing on such noted authors as Ida Tarbell, Upton Sinclair, I. F. Stone, Bob Woodward, and Carl Bernstein. The author provides brief biographical and background information, along with samples from the writers' most influential work. This format serves readers interested in the broad topic of investigative journalism, as well as students doing research on a particular writer or writers. The prose is straightforward, the tone engaging, and the vocabulary nonacademic. Although some of Jensen's 21 selections are questionable (Malcolm X and J. William Fulbright are seldom thought of as muckrakers), all of his subjects have altered the political, social, and cultural course of our nation's history with their words. Many teens will be fascinated by these dedicated individuals who demonstrated by their courageous work that, without freedom of the press, democracy cannot be sustained.
Robert Saunderson, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Library Journal
Jensen (communications studies, Sonoma State Univ.), the author of Twenty Years of Censored News, expands his theme in this book to cover a century of muckrakers. Jensen presents 21 writers, including Edward R. Murrow, Upton Sinclair, Ida Mae Tarbell, and Seymour Hersh, as the initiators of muckracking and complements the brief excerpts from their work with short biographies. Yet Jensen's definition of "muckraker" is problematically broadDWilliam Fulbright fits the bill, but Malcolm X? Did he uncover plots, expose wrongs, or simply take controversial stands on social crises? Likewise, Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath is too epic simply to fall into the contentious realm of muckraking. Selections aside, the structure of the book, the length, and the vocabulary of the entries make this a good undergraduate textbook that is also recommended for college-tracked high school students.DRobert Moore, Raytheon, Sudbury, MA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.