Suggested Books for Review

JOUR/RATV 151H

Last updated 09/27/00

You are to write a two- to three-page review of a commercial book centering on the history, organization, procedures, or effects of mass media. The review should briefly summarize the arguments or findings of the book and the qualifications of the author, then evaluate the book's adequacy in regard to what you have learned in this course regarding theory and media effects.

Books should be available at area bookstores or libraries. To check availability in Middle Tennessee's major libraries, click here, then select "Project Athena" and choose the library you wish to search, or select "Athena Virtual Catalog" to check at all sites. Online bookstores will also ship the volume to you within a few days if you have use of a credit card. The biggest online stores are Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.

Here is a partial (and growing) list of books you might select from, grouped in no particular order. One person per book. First come; first served. Select early by sending me email at rwyatt@mtsu.edu. 

(X) = Already taken

  1. Rosen, Jay, Getting the Connections Right: Public Journalism and the Troubles in the Press (Twentieth Century Fund, 1996) and Charity, Arthur, Doing Public Journalism (Guilford, 1995). MUST DO BOTH SHORT BOOKS.

  2. (X) Lichter, S. Robert, and Noyes, Richard E., Good Intentions Make Bad News: Why Americans Hate Campaign Journalism, 2nd ed. (Rowman & Littlefield, 1996). Tom Murphy.

  3. (X) Squires, James D., Read All About It: The Corporate Takeover of America's Newspapers (Times Books, 1993). David Tucker

  4. (X) Kovach, Bill, and Rosenstiel, Tom, Warp Speed: America in the Age of Mixed Media (Twentieth Century Foundation, 1999). Angela Harris

  5. Reeves, Richard, What the People Know: Freedom and the Press (Harvard, 1998).

  6. (X) Tye, Larry, The Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays and the Birth of Public Relations (Crown, 1998). Eric Junker.

  7. Marchand, Roland, Warp Speed: America in the Age of Mixed Media (University of California, 1998).

  8. (X) Douglas, Susan J., Where the Girls Are : Growing Up Female With the Mass Media (Times Books, 1995). Donna Reifschneider

  9. Rushkoff, Douglas, Media Virus! : Hidden Agendas in Popular Culture (Ballentine, 1996).

  10. McManus, John H., Market-Driven Journalism : Let the Citizen Beware? (Sage, 1994).

  11. (X) Phillips, Peter, and Tomorrow, Tom, Censored 1998 : The News That Didn't Make the News-The Year's Top 25 Censored News Stories (Seven Stories Press, 1998). Garth Yotter.

  12. (X) Phillips, Peter, and Tomorrow, Tom, Censored 1999 : The News That Didn't Make the News-The Year's Top 25 Censored News Stories (Seven Stories Press, 1999). Bradley Lambert

  13. Phillips, Peter, Webb, Gary, and Tomorrow, Tom, Censored 1999 : The News That Didn't Make the News-The Year's Top 25 Censored News Stories (Seven Stories Press, 1998).

  14. (X) Silk, Mark, Unsecular Media : Making News of Religion in America (University of Illinois, 1998). Rebecca Buida

  15. Ewen, Stuart, PR! (Basic Books, 1998).

  16. (X) Feiler, Bruce S., Dreaming Out Loud : Garth Brooks, Wynonna Judd, Wade Hayes, and the Changing Face of Nashville (Spike, 1999). Charles Sowers.

  17. (X) Vowell, Sarah, Radio on : A Listener's Diary (St. Martin's, 1998). Rachel Pickel

  18. Kurtz, Howard, Hot Air : All Talk, All the Time (Basic Books, 1997).

  19. Fallows, James, Breaking the News : How the Media Undermine American Democracy (Vintage, 1997).

  20. Madden, Thomas J., Spin Man : The Topsy-Turvy World of Public Relations...Tell-All Tale (Transmedia, 1997).

  21. (X) Hamilton, James T., Channeling Violence : The Economic Market for Violent Television Programming (Princeton, 1998). Brian Raitt

  22. (X) Leonard, John, Smoke and Mirrors : Violence, Television, and Other American Cultures (New Press, 1997). Rebecca Robertson

  23. (X) Fuller, Jack, News Values : Ideas for an Information Age (University of Chicago, 1998). Julie Parker

  24. Barnouw, Erik, Conglomerates and the Media (New Press, 1998).

  25. (X) Miller, James, Flowers in the Dustbin: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 1947-1977 (Simon & Schuster, 1999). Jeremy Powell

  26. (X) Marcus, Greil, Mystery Train : Images of America in Rock 'N' Roll Music
    (Plume, 1997). Brooke Murphy

  27. Guralnik, Peter, Careless Love : The Unmaking of Elvis Presley (Little, Brown, 1999).

  28. (X) Frith, Simon, Performing Rites : On the Value of Popular Music (Harvard, 1998). Stephen Zori

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