B8 EZ BD THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20 , 2019
HARDCOVERFICTION1 THE DUTCH HOUSE (Harper, $27.99). By Ann
Patchett. Over the span of five decades, a family
slowly unravels after the patriarch finds success.2 THE WATER DANCER (One World, $28). By Ta-Nehisi
Coates. A young enslaved man with special powers
escapes from a Virginia plantation.3 THE 19TH CHRISTMAS (Little, Brown, $29). By James
Patterson and Maxine Paetro. The Women’s Murder
Club attempts to thwart a criminal’s deadly holiday
plans.4 WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING (Putnam, $26). By
Delia Owens. A young outcast finds herself at the
center of a local murder trial.5 NINTH HOUSE (Flatiron, $27.99). By Leigh Bardugo.
In exchange for a full scholarship to Yale, a young
woman with magical abilities monitors the university’s
notorious secret societies.6 THE TESTAMENTS (Nan A. Talese, $28.95). By
Margaret Atwood. The highly anticipated sequel to
“The Handmaid's Tale.”7 AGE OF MYTH: BOOK ONE OF THE LEGENDS OF
THE FIRST EMPIRE (Del Rey, $26). By Michael J.
Sullivan. The first in a fantasy series about gods,
humans and destruction.8 AGE OF WAR: BOOK THREE OF THE LEGENDS OF
THE FIRST EMPIRE (Del Rey, $28). By Michael J.
Sullivan. A follow-up to “Age of Swords.”9 THE INSTITUTE (Scribner, $30). By Stephen King.
Children with extraordinary powers are targeted by
evil adults.10 WHAT HAPPENS IN PARADISE (Little, Brown, $28).
By Elin Hilderbrand. After her husband’s death, a
widow learns that he had a secret life on St. John.NONFICTION/GENERAL1 TOUGH LOVE: MY STORY OF THE THINGS WORTH
FIGHTING FOR (Simon & Schuster, $30). By Susan
Rice. The former national security adviser reflects on
her life and career.2 BLOWOUT: CORRUPTED DEMOCRACY, ROGUE
STATE RUSSIA, AND THE RICHEST, MOST
DESTRUCTIVE INDUSTRY ON EARTH (Crown, $30).
By Rachel Maddow. A critical assessment of the oil
industry.3 CALL SIGN CHAOS: LEARNING TO LEAD (Random
House, $28). By Jim Mattis and Bing West. The former
defense secretary recounts his career in the military
and discusses leadership skills.4 MOVIES (AND OTHER THINGS) (Twelve, $25). By
Shea Serrano. A collection of writings about movies
and pop culture.5 SHE SAID: BREAKING THE SEXUAL HARASSMENT
STORY THAT HELPED IGNITE A MOVEMENT
(Penguin Press, $28). By Jodi Kantor and Megan
Twohey. An account of how the Harvey Weinstein
sexual abuse story unraveled and brought the
#MeToo movement to the forefront.6 TALKING TO STRANGERS: WHAT WE SHOULD
KNOW ABOUT THE PEOPLE WE DON’T KNOW (Little,
Brown, $30). By Malcolm Gladwell. An in-depth look at
why humans are terrible at recognizing liars and lies.7 THE BOOK OF GUTSY WOMEN: FAVORITE STORIES
OF COURAGE AND RESILIENCE (Simon & Schuster,
$35). By Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton.
The authors profile inspirational women throughout
history.8 WITCH HUNT: THE STORY OF THE GREATEST MASS
DELUSION IN AMERICAN POLITICAL HISTORY
(Broadside, $29.99). By Gregg Jarrett. The author
argues that there is a concerted effort to oust
President Trump.9 DEEP STATE: TRUMP, THE FBI, AND THE RULE OF
LAW (Penguin Press, $30). By James B. Stewart. A
deep dive into Trump’s relationship with the FBI.10 A DREAM ABOUT LIGHTNING BUGS: A LIFE OF
MUSIC AND CHEAP LESSONS (Ballantine, $28). By
Ben Folds. The singer-songwriter reflects on his life
and career.Rankings reflect sales for the week ended Oct. 13. The charts may not be
reproduced without permission from NPD Book. Copyright 2017 by NPD Book.
(The bestseller lists in print alternate between hardcover and paperback; the
complete list can be found online.)WASHINGTON BESTSELLERS Paperback bestsellers at washingtonpost.com/books20 SUNDAY | 1 P. M. Timothy Egan will discuss “A
Pilgrimage to Eternity: Fr om Canterbury to Rome in
Search of a Faith” at Politics and Prose, 5015
Connecticut Ave. NW. 202-364-1919.
3 P. M. Eric Lichtblau will read from “Return to the
Reich: A Holocaust Refugee’s Secret Mission to
Defeat the Nazis” at Politics and Prose.
5 P. M. Azra Raza will discuss “The First Cell: And the
Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the Last” with
Zaneb Beams at Politics and Prose.
21 MONDAY | 6:30 P. M. Curdella Forbes will read
from “A Tall History of Sugar” at Busboys and Poets,
2021 14th St. NW. 202-387-7638.
6:30 P. M. Kim Wehle will read from “How to Read
the Constitution — and Why” at Kramerbooks, 1517
Connecticut Ave. NW. 202-387-1400.
7 P. M. Elizabeth Wein will read from “A Thousand
Sisters: The Heroic Airwomen of the Soviet Union in
World War II” at Politics and Prose.
7 P. M. Jeffrey Sterling will read from his memoir
“Unwanted Spy” at Solid State Books, 600 H St. NE.
202-897-4201.
7 P. M. Stephen Harding will read from “Escape Fr om
Paris: A Tr ue Story of Love and Resistance in Wartime
Fr ance” at One More Page Books, 2200 N.
Westmoreland St. #101., Arlington. 70 3-300-9 74 6.
7 P. M. Adm. James Stavridis will read from “Sailing
Tr ue North: Te n Admirals and the Voyage of
Character” at Politics and Prose.
22 TUESDAY | 6:30 P. M. Sarah Blake will discuss“The Guest” with author Karin Tanabe at East City
Bookshop, 645 Pennsylvania Ave. SE #100. 202-
290-1636.7 P. M. Te d Gioia will read from “Music: A Subversive
History” at Politics and Prose.
7 P. M. Lawrence Jackson will discuss “Yes We Did:
Photos and Behind-the-Scenes Stories Celebrating
Our First African American President” at Politics and
Prose at the Wharf, 70 District Sq. SW. 202-488-
3867.
7 P. M. Nic Stone will discuss “J ackpot” with
Dhonielle Clayton, Ashley Woodfolk and Tiffany
Jackson at Politics and Prose at Union Market, 1270
Fifth St. NE. 202-544-4452.
23 WEDNESDAY | 6:30 P. M. Jasmine Guillory will
discuss “Royal Holiday” with Andie J. Christopher at
East City Bookshop.
7 P. M. Stephanie Land will discuss “Maid: Hard
Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive” at
Arlington Central Library, 1015 N. Quincy St.,
Arlington. 70 3-228-5990.
7 P. M. Jonathan Safran Foer will read from “We Are
the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast”
at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, 600 I St. NW. 202-
408-3100. $22-$48.
7 P. M. Christina Lauren (the pen name for Christina
Hobbs and Lauren Billings) will discuss “Twice in A
Blue Moon” with Sarah Wendell at One More Page
Books.
7 P. M. Jeanette Winterson will read from“Frankissstein” at Politics and Prose.7:30 P. M. Neil deGrasse Tyson will discuss “Letters
Fr om an Astrophysicist” at Warner Theatre, 513 13th
St. NW. 202-783-4000. $67.50-$248.24 THURSDAY | 7 P. M. Thomas Chatterton Williams
will read from “Self-Portrait in Black and White:
Unlearning Race” at Politics and Prose at the Wharf.
7 P. M. Jami Attenberg will discuss “A ll This Could Be
Yours” with Matthew Klam at Politics and Prose at
Union Market.
25 FRIDAY | 7 P. M. Barry Levine and Monique El-
Faizy will read from “A ll the President’s Women:
Donald Tr ump and the Making of a Predator” at
Politics and Prose.
26 SATURDAY | 1 P. M. Susan Goldberg will discuss
“Women: The National Geographic Image Collection”
at Politics and Prose.3:30 P. M. Megan Phelps-Roper will read from
“Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the
Westboro Baptist Church” at Politics and Prose.
6 P. M. Daniel Mendelsohn will read from “Ecstasy
and Te rror: Fr om the Greeks to Game of Thrones” at
Politics and Prose.
6 P. M. Fuchsia Dunlop will read from “The Food of
Sichuan” at Politics and Prose at Union Market.
7 P. M. Idris Goodwin will read from “Can I Kick It?” at
Solid State Books.
For more literary events, go to wapo.st/litcalT
here’s a scene in Evelyn Waugh’s
“Scoop,” the irreverent 1938 sendup
subtitled “A Novel About Journalists,”
where hapless protagonist William Boot
wonders why so many reporters file
divergent accounts of the same events.
“But isn’t it very confusing if we all send
different news,” he asks a veteran correspondent.
“It gives them a choice,” the colleague says of
British editors. “They all have different policies so
of course they have to give different news.”
I was reminded of “give different news” while
reading Matt Taibbi’s “Hate Inc.,” which is also a
book about journalists but with a much darker
subtitle: “Why Today’s Media Makes Us Despise
One Another.” Taibbi, a contributing editor for
Rolling Stone, writes that “Scoop” is one of a
handful of books he carries
whenever he travels, and traces
of its comic cynicism animate
his prose. But where Waugh
brilliantly satirized, Ta ibbi aims
a cannon, blasting an American
media industry he accuses of
taking sides and manipulating
the audience for profit — “dif-
ferent news” elevated to a busi-
ness model.
“The subject here is the phas-
ing out of independent journal-
ism, replacing it with deeply
politicized programming on
both ‘sides,’ ” he writes. “Which
‘side’ is better is immaterial:
neither approach is journalism.
Fox may have more noxious
politics, but MSNBC has be-
come the same kind of consum-
er product, a political safe space for viewers in
ironclad alignment with a political party.”
“Hate Inc.” began as a series of online install-
ments, each coursing with an angry energy and a
sense of loss for the journalism Ta ibbi learned
from his father. Mike Taibbi reported for a
network affiliate in Massachusetts, and the son’s
affectionate recollections of his father working
the rotary phone at night, randomly pulling
names from his Rolodex and checking in with
sources, provide a sort of Rosebud touchstone for
the indictment that follows. Few are spared,
including the author, who admits to a reporting
career catering to liberal readers and the “self-
loathing that came with knowing I’d tossed so
much red meat to political audiences.”
Ta ibbi’s equal-opportunity enmity is an-
nounced by his book cover, a red-and-blue diptych
featuring photographs of cable gladiators Sean
Hannity of Fox News and Rachel Maddow of
MSNBC. Maddow suffers an especially rough
critique for her persistent focus on the Russian
collusion story, an approach Ta ibbi believes was
excessive, built not on fact but on innuendo
fashioned for liberal viewers, and worthy of
Hannity-level shaming. “The two characters do
exactly the same work,” he writes. “They make
their money using exactly the same commercial
formula. And though they emphasize different
political ideas, the effect they have on audiences is
much the same.”
Hate, the author argues, has been promoted by
news outlets that cater to “distinct audiences of
party zealots” fed a diet of information intended
to demonize political opponents — and increase
viewership. It’s a model with benign consequenc-
es when applied to coverage of rival sports teams,
but otherwise corrosive. “In 2016 especially, news
reporters began to consciously divide and radical-
ize audiences,” he writes. “... As Trump rode to the
White House, we rode to massive profits. The only
losers were the American people, who were now
more steeped in hate than ever.”
Ta ibbi is right to sound the alarm about the
temptations that have tarnished news reports
since Donald Trump’s election, resulting in more
programming that appears designed to ratify an
audience’s political beliefs. But he overreaches
when he claims that “the bulk of reporters today
are soldiers for one or the other group of
long-entrenched political interests in Washing-
ton.” And saddling journalism with blame for the
nation’s c urrent state of animus lets an awful lot of
suspects walk free. Ta ibbi, an experienced cam-
paign reporter, is more effective in his autopsy of
the conventional wisdom that plagued coverage of
the 2016 election. His sharp analysis of the media
obsession with “electability” — a maxim Trump’s
victory should have vanquished but that persists“as journalism’s version of junk forensics” —
sounds an important and worrisome note for
2020.
In w ays that reading Ta ibbi’s work in occasional
digital installments might not, the book format
exposes a wearying repetition. The problem is
more than aesthetic. Whether Ta ibbi is examining
botched coverage of the Russia investigation or a
straightforward column on media habits in subur-
ban New York, everything withers under his
microscope. There’s an honest moment early in
the book when Ta ibbi acknowledges that “a lot of
us are quietly struggling” to find the balance
between traditional journalism standards and the
pressure to politicize content. I’ve heard this from
many journalists and wished for more exploration
of this tension, but it’s not the book on offer.
In one section about journalistic “expeditions
into flyover country,” the author criticizes Wash-
ington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan for a
2017 story on mistrust of the media. Responding
to a reader’s challenge, Sullivan decamps to
Angola, N.Y., a village on the shores of Lake Erie,
where she lives and reports for six weeks. Ta ibbi
demeans the decision, calling Angola “a DC
reporter’s perfect conception of an undesirable/
nowhere-ish hole” and claiming that Sullivanneeded “an invitation and a map to find an
‘ordinary person.’ ” His most generous note: “The
awesome humor of a national news reporter
needing to organize such an anthropological
expedition to her own country to prove a connec-
tion to ‘real’ people was clearly lost on Sullivan,
but she at least tried.”
Nowhere does Ta ibbi tell you that Sullivan grew
up in nearby Lackawanna, N.Y.; that she had spent
most of her career as a reporter and then the top
editor at the local Buffalo News; that the “no-
where-ish hole” was part of a region she knew
well. Ta ibbi favors a cynical style evenly applied
across the universe of real and perceived journal-
istic trespasses, challenging a reader to sort
mortal from venial.
The author laments a growing elitism in
journalism and the loss of blue-collar voices like
that of Mike Royko, the late Chicago newspaper
columnist. I wish he had remembered Royko’s
famous admonition against peeling a grape with
an ax.Ann Marie Lipinski directs the Nieman Foundation for
Journalism at Harvard. She is a former editor of the
Chicago Tr ibune, where she received a Pulitzer Prize for
investigative reporting.MEDIA REVIEW BY ANN MARIE LIPINSKIIs the news deepening our divisions for profit?
LITERARY CALENDAROct. 20 - 26BOOK WORLD THIS WEEKComing up in StyleSunday in Arts & Style | The Contender, by William J.
Mann, delves into Marlon Brando’s career and persona.
Knitting Factory founder Michael Dorf looks at the highs
and lows of his career in the music industry in Indulge
Your Senses.Monday | Félix J. Palma’s
short-story collection The
Heart and Other
Viscera bores into the
interior life of the mind.Tuesday | The essay
collection If I Don’t Make
It, I Love You gathers
stories of those who
survived school
shootings.Wednesday | A
reimagining of “A
Christmas Carol,” Jon
Clinch’s Marley recounts
the friendship between
Ebenezer Scrooge and
his business partner
Jacob Marley. The second book in Philip Pullman’s Book
of Dust series, Secrets of the Commonwealth follows
Ly ra in early adulthood as she ventures across Europe.
And the best books for young readers.Thursday | Michael Dirda looks at The Mirror of My
Heart, an anthology of Persian poetry written by women.Friday | In John le Carré’s Agent Running in the Field,
an aging spy gets back in the game to take on Russia.Book World
HATE INC.
Why Today’s
Media Makes
Us Despise
One Another
By Matt Taibbi
OR Books.
304 pp. $24.95CAROLYN KASTER/ASSOCIATED PRESSSTEVEN SENNE/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sean Hannity of Fox News and Rachel Maddow of MSNBC “do exactly the same work,” writes Matt
Taibbi: catering to “viewers in ironclad alignment with a political party.”NADAV KANDAR
John le Carré