Okay, I could have chosen a more serious tome, but I didn't. The history of Confidential was an easy read and thoroughly explained the origin of the scandal sheets we still buy today, complete with their weird mix of celebrity abuse, consumer scare stories, and occasional forays into party politics (The National Enquirer will be happy to dig up dirt on presidential candidates as well as on actors and poor little rich girls). Confidential was successful as long as it employed fact-checkers to make sure every bit of mud it slung was grade-A, and that the stars so besmirched would have more to lose than to gain from a libel suit. When it got sloppy, it went down, but the book doesn't explain how or why a whole new generation of similar rags managed to take its place. I would have liked a little more historical perspective along with my boffo headlines. But now I know that magazines, if shelved, live in the 50's.
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