America’s foremost analyst of media and journalism, New Yorker columnist and national bestselling author Ken Auletta has been called the "James Bond of the media world" ( BusinessWeek ) for his unparalleled access to news sources, keen analysis, smooth writing style, and uncompromising commitment to his profession. In Backstory, Auletta’s piercing gaze sweeps into every corner of a subject that has generated tremendous noise but precious little clear thinking: the state of today’s media. From Howell Raines and the New York Times to Roger Ailes and Fox News to the fractious relationship between President Bush and the press, the essays in Backstory survey the troubled landscape of the people and institutions who tell Americans what to believe. Comprehensive, trenchant, and unflinchingly honest, Backstory is a book that only Ken Auletta could write.