Political Commentators In The United States In The 20th Century »

DAN NIMMO is a visiting scholar in the Department of Political Science at Baylor University.

CHEVELLE NEWSOME is Assistant Professor of Communications at California State University, Sacramento.

The only volume of its kind to trace the development of political commentary in the 20th century through bio-critical analyses of the century's most significant professional political communicators in the United States.

Library Journal

Political commentary has become an integral part of the media establishment and the U.S. political process in recent years. Nimmo, a visiting scholar in political science at Baylor, and Newsome (communications, California State Univ., Sacramento) trace the development of political commentary by focusing on significant 20th-century commentators, offering biographical sketches of 42 commentators ranging from well-known figures like Walter Cronkite to the less famous George W. Creel. The authors outline four stages in the rise and proliferation of commentary, a chronological approach that is somewhat undermined by the arrangement of the book in alphabetical order by commentator. In some cases, the authors provide tiresome and irrelevant details, e.g., that Elmer Davis "eschewed" his middle name at an early age. Of occasional use to the student who needs a quick overview of one of the commentators included; recommended for comprehensive journalism collections.-Judy Solberg, George Washington Univ., Washington, D.C.