The Brass Check: A Study of American Journalism
"This unruly classic, originally published by the author in 1919 and last reprinted fifty-seven years ago by Haldeman-Julius, the old socialist publishing house, has now been trotted out into the light of the twenty-first century... No writer on the press has ever matched the old muckraker Sinclair (1878-1968) for exuberance and abundance. He is always personal, but always reaching beyond the personal; he did not fear to use his own divorce to illustrate newspaper malice and malfeasance. His portrait of the press of his era (and in particular The Associated Press) is thoroughly disheartening - an institution in thrall to corporate policy and publishers' whims, using untruths, dirty tricks, and blackouts to serve political ends... [In their new introduction, Robert W. McChesney and Ben Scott] contend, with good reason, that Sinclair's thesis is still valid - that America lacks a press worthy of a democracy." - James Boylan, Columbia Journalism Review