The Powers That Be

Recounts the growth in power and influence of the great media institutions and the changes that they have brought about on the American scene, focusing on the people who make up Time Incorporated, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and CBS

"The book provided manna for political, history, political science and journalism junkies and groupies. It bared the warts -- biases, politically partisan maneuverings, egos, dollars-and-cents motivations, personality clashes, society maneuvers, internal political wars, insecurities, chauvinistic behaviors and restricted realities of the news organizations as seen through the people who owned and ran them. Stories galore."--Australasian Journal of American Studies "Halberstam deploys a stunning novelistic skill in showing how his scores of characters feel about one another... Every page carries a graphic revelation of some piece of subtle delineation, flashes of insight struck off by the adjacencies of power. So understanding is the reporting that the skeletons, once hauled from their closets, don't rattle much." -- Anthony Smith, The Nation "[An] important and admirable book ... The Powers That Be will remain stirring history." -- Richard Rovere, New York Times Book Review "Extremely good reading. It builds a lucid and engaging narrative about important people and important events and ... will keep readers up after bedtime. It is also crammed with anecdotes available only to insiders." -- American Journal of Sociology