On first impression, this account of the first 9 years of American Idol (although there is hardly anything about year 9)appears to be well informed because it covers a lot of detail about the program's genesis in the UK. On balance though it says nothing that an ordinary fan would not have learned by reading the news and blogs throughout the show's run. Worse, it is TOTALLY undocumented, consisting of nothing but unattributed word of mouth; ie: gossip. There is an egregious, unattributed slur on Ellen DeGeneres in chapter 20 (p. 260 in hardcover) about her being an awful diva. Rushfield reveals his ulterior motives however when he notes that DeGeneres used scab writers during the Hollywood writer's strike of 2008. Payback. For this bit of garbage, Rushfield gets one star, and overall, he really doesn't deserve more.