The Blockbuster Complex: Conglomerates, Show Business, and Book Publishing

by Thomas Whiteside

1981, hardcover edition, Wesleyan University Press, CT. 207 pages. When this book was first published many an eyebrow was raised. The author, at the time, had been a staff writer for The New Yorker for years. In this fascinating work, Whiteside reveals the fact that publishers have now become conglomerates, most interested in the bottom line. We're talking quantity, not quality. The so-called big deal, the stuff of big bucks, had descended on the literary world and that world was changed forever, many times to the detriment of individual authors. An inside story, not always a pretty one either. Any would-be author needs to read this book, line by line.

Genres: Books About Books

207 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Thomas Whiteside was a distinguished American journalist and author whose investigative reporting for The New Yorker frequently spurred major legislative reform. After studying at the University of Chicago and serving in the Office of War Propaganda, he became a formidable voice in advocacy journalism. He is perhaps best known for his instrumental role in exposing the ecological and human devastation caused by Agent Orange; his meticulous reporting served as the primary catalyst for Congressional hearings and subsequent federal restrictions on the chemical.
Whiteside’s diverse body of work often challenged corporate and political power, from revealing the use of ethylene gas in industrial tomato farming to documenting police violence against journalists at the 1968 Democratic Convention. A prolific author, his books explored topics ranging from cigarette advertising and computer crime to the "blockbuster complex" of the publishing industry. In recognition of his enduring impact, he was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1986.

Reviews

[Stanley Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting history of the book publishing business up til 1980.