Koncocoo

Best Journalism Writing Reference

The True Story of Fake News: How Mainstream Media Manipulates Millions
You will see the powerful and deceptive methods of manipulation that affect us all, as numerous organizations and political activists cunningly plot to have their stories seen, heard, and believed by as many people as possible. The depths of lies, distortions, and omissions from traditional mainstream media will shock you; and now they’re colluding with the top tech companies trying to maintain their information monopolies. Mark's YouTube channel has over 1 million subscribers and more than 400 million views, and his viral videos have been mentioned on the Fox News Channel, CNN, the Drudge Report, TMZ, the New York Daily News , the Washington Times , and other media outlets around the world.
Reviews
"I believe a person that is not ready to be awakened may experience severe soul pain and Mark forgot to put "Trigger warning" on the cover but still I believe for awakened people this is going to be great laugh and joy to read pages and see how death of media complex is unravelling and humanity awakening while people that still caught in nets of news manipulators may feel really bad but after few weeks I believe healing effects of truth will be refreshing."
"The book mentions how our leftists media is trying to persuade us to accept insanity like there being more than 2 genders, and how the media is pushing fake hate crimes committed by leftists in attempt to frame Trump supporters as Nazis,white Supremacists,KKK members, and racist."
"A lot of people don't know history and how much the media has been involved with the CIA and FBI and the rest of our federal gov't to create stories, manipulate events, etc."
"The news media has become so untrustworthy, the majority of sane Americans have seen this before even reading Marks book!"
"Great book and well written!!!!"
"Excellent book; this will not disappoint."
"Awesome work once again by Mark Dice as he exposes the nature of propaganda - otherwise known as the mainstream news in America."
"A must read."
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Highbrow, Lowbrow, Brilliant, Despicable: Fifty Years of New York Magazine
A battered town left for dead, one that almost a million people abandoned and where those who remained had to live behind triple deadbolt locks, was reinvigorated by the twinned energies of starving artists and financial white knights. Covering culture high and low, the drama and scandal of politics and finance, through jubilant moments and immense tragedies, the magazine has hit readers where they live, with a sensibility as fast and funny and urbane as New York itself. From its early days publishing writers like Tom Wolfe, Jimmy Breslin, and Gloria Steinem to its modern incarnation as a laboratory of inventive magazine-making, New York has had an extraordinary knack for catching the Zeitgeist and getting it on the page. It was among the originators of the New Journalism, publishing legendary stories whose authors infiltrated a Black Panther party in Leonard Bernstein’s apartment, introduced us to the mother-daughter hermits living in the dilapidated estate known as Grey Gardens, launched Ms. Magazine, branded a group of up-and-coming teen stars “the Brat Pack,” and effectively ended the career of Roger Ailes. “When New York magazine began in 1968, it was unique: a brash conglomeration of ingenious writers, editors, and graphic designers who generated narrative journalism that was so classic it became new again. Highbrow, Lowbrow, Brilliant, Despicable: 50 Years of New York encapsulates those five convulsive decades in lavish illustrations, vivid oral histories, and evocative recreations by, among others, Tom Wolfe, Jimmy Breslin, Nora Ephron, Nicholas Pileggi, Julie Baumgold and Gael Greene from the magazine’s more than 2,300 issues.” —Sam Roberts, The New York Times. “A delicious compendium of the magazine’s coverage from the half-century of its existence, this is the kind of book that incites nostalgia even for the moments you didn’t live though (there’s the original Tom Wolfe “Radical Chic” cover!). The editors reproduce material that speaks not just to passing moments and fashions, but also to constant editorial emphases, such as high-quality artwork and portraiture.
Reviews
"I gave this to a former New Yorker for Christmas."
"excellent in any ways - great design, great texts, it is a heavyweight champion."
"Bought it for a gift to a friend of mine who reads the NEW YORK all the time, so why not!"
"The unhelpful index indicated that my favorite cover, Gerald Ford ( as Bozo) to city, Drop Dead is in here, but I have yet to spot it."
"A fascinating look back at the past 50 years through the eyes of New York magazine."
"If you love the NYM, you'll love this book!"
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The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, What You Think, and How You Vote
The New York Times bestselling author of Stonewalled pulls back the curtain on the shady world of opposition research and reveals the dirty tricks those in power use to influence your opinions. Behind most major political stories in the modern era, there is an agenda; an effort by opposition researchers, spin doctors, and outside interests to destroy an idea or a person. Now, the hard-hitting investigative reporter shares her inside knowledge, revealing how the Smear takes shape and who its perpetrators are—including Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal and, most influential of all, "right-wing assassin turned left-wing assassin" ( National Review ) political operative David Brock and his Media Matters for America empire. Now hard-hitting investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson, the New York Times bestselling author of Stonewalled , takes you behind the scenes of the modern smear machine, exploring how operatives from corporations and both sides of the political aisle have manipulated a complicit mainstream media to make disinformation, rumor, and dirty tricks defining traits of our democracy. And she doesn’t just tell stories—she names names, sharing her deeply researched account of how smears take shape and who their perpetrators are—from Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal to liberal political operative David Brock, who, along with his expansive Media Matters for America empire, has been rewriting the rules of the smear game for decades while raking in millions of dollars in generous compensation. Dissecting the most divisive, partisan election in American history, she explores how both sides used every smear tactic as a political weapon, culminating in Donald Trump’s hard-fought victory, even as his detractors have continued their smears against him into the Oval Office.
Reviews
"The consumer of news is “pummeled by countless narratives—some based on grains of truth; others wholly invented for the audience.”. The author warns news consumers to be cautious even if all the media outlets are parroting the same line: “Today, if enough pundits, operatives, and media parrot the same narrative, it becomes incorporated into the fabric of the news as an accepted fact.”. And yet, smear campaigns are not new—they are as old as the Republic: “Our founding fathers knew very well the power of a sharp character assassination . “The Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination showed both sides that the best way to fight a smear might not be to take a defensive posture—but to mount an offensive countersmear.”. Attkisson is careful to define what she means by “smear.” It’s not the dissemination of falsehoods, so much as exaggeration: “Expert smear artists take a sprinkle of truth—in this case Imus’s objectionable comments—and pervert it into a weapon of mass destruction to advance a larger goal, often political or financial.” Smear campaigns take something that is true and "amplify a misdeed out of proportion.”. For me, one of the most fascinating sections was the explanation of a variation of smear called “Astroturf.” In this variation, the pros pretend they are ordinary folks: “Paid interests disguised as ordinary people troll assigned topics, news sites, reporters, blogs, and social media for the purpose of posting comments that spin and confuse.” The idea is to “give the impression there’s widespread support for or against an agenda when there’s not.”. Attkisson concludes with this sobering warning: “One thing you can count on is that most every image that crosses your path has been put there for a reason."
"This book documents political smear campaigns, behind-the-scenes coordination between the press and political campaigns and other special interests, and efforts by our own government to manipulate the news, influence public opinion, and punish whistleblowers. Although some events in the book go back to the 1990's, most of the information pertains to events of the last ten years, with the emphasis on the 2016 presidential campaign and its aftermath. Worst of all, our own government seems to be an active player in much of this. Many op-eds that you read on the editorial page are not written by the person whose byline appears beneath them, but by activists working for political campaigns, corporations, and special-interest groups. The Obama Department of Justice and other Obama agencies targeted reporters, stonewalled investigations, and maintained behind-the-scenes relationships with special interests."
"It provides the insight and evidence that we've come to expect in her reporting, and opens the curtains of the smear industry so we might peer in and be prepared to spot when the smear is in play (hint...it's everywhere!)."
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Best Communication & Journalism

Leadership: Theory and Practice, 7th Edition
2016 Recipient of the McGuffey Longevity Award. from the Text and Academic Authors Association (TAA) Translated into 12 different languages and used in 89 countries, this market-leading text successfully combines an academically robust account of the major theories and models of leadership with an accessible style and practical examples that help students apply what they learn. "I have found Peter’s books exceptionally well written, applauded by my students for its quality and readability. "A useable and up-to-date introduction of the psychodynamic approach that brings psychological concerns about motivation and personality into a helpful conversation with mainstream leadership theory." [The Adaptive Leadership Chapter] presents leadership through a new lens and provides an approach to leadership that was missing from previous editions. "Leadership: Theory and Practice is a scholarly examination of leadership as a dynamic, evolving, and elusive influence process with differing approaches to effectively build relationships and facilitate the achievement of goals and visions." He then presents the strengths and weaknesses of various leadership approaches in a compelling way, yielding evidence based leadership practices." "This is the ideal text for a survey course on leadership theory that also helps students put their leadership into practice."
Reviews
"The book had a defect, but nothing that affected the content."
"Good read."
"used for a class at university and liked it."
"Great theory in this textbook."
"A little dry, but a good amalgamation of several leadership theories and models."
"Every student of business leadership should have this easy-to-read guide."
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Best Pop Culture Magazines

Pulp Culture: The Art of Fiction Magazines
An illustrated collection of magazine covers from pulp fiction magazines looks at cover styles of westerns, erotic stories, mysteries, and horror. The covers became more and more garish, and promised ever greater excitement. Western covers went from an illustration of an Indian gently paddling his canoe to furious cattle stampedes, a huge gang of obviously ferocious savages attacking a defenseless family, and depictions of shootouts in every conceivable locale. Mystery covers went from showing a cop on the beat to villainous thugs tearing the clothes off a helpless young woman (most frequently a generously endowed young blonde) or any other sort of action that promised the reader endless excitement. Pulps became more and more specialized as their numbers increased, soon appealing to fans of jungle stories, science fiction, fantasy, railroad stories, romances, Westerns, Western romances, aviation, the Foreign Legion, engineering, the outdoors, courtrooms, Wall Street, newspapers, firefighters, and so on.
Reviews
"More than a simple coffee table book, this tome is worth repeated perusals.With original pulps rapidly rising in costs, the images in this book make nice stand-ins."
"Must have for any illustrator or writer."
"Great history of pulp fiction and wonderful pictures of cover art, illustrations, etc."
"What a wonderfull book."
"excellent collection of illustrations."
"Unlike other books I've seen, this one strives to cover the entire range of genres, subgenres, and specialized subjects, so that along with more familiar genres such as SF, horror, adventure, romance (love story and romance pulps had the highest circulation of any genre, we are told, but are the least likely to survive), detective, western, war, hero (the Shadow knows!"
"I also wanted a book which would represent the various genres of pulp covers, from adventure covers to science fiction to sexy damsels and risque covers, and this book delivered."
"Hard-boiled Detectives, mysterious heroes, shadowy villains, evil oriental masterminds, and dames in distress...they are the stuff of the pulp magazines and the subject of this wonderful book by Frank Robinson which traces the history of pulp magazines and provides covers to hundreds of these great pulp magazines, so many lost in the antiquity of time...not to mention paper drives of the 1940's war years. Argosy would premiere as the first true pulp back in 1896 and before long dozens of competitors would emerge such as Popular Magazine, All-Story Weekly, New Story and so many more. In the 1930's, detective pulps became the most popular as there were literally dozens of detective pulps being published. From there it's on to the hero pulps and the birth of the most famous pulp characters of all including "The Shadow", "Doc Savage", and "The Spider". But the genre that gave us the most outrageous and grisly covers of the pulp era belongs to the "shudder pulps". Robinson closes his book by providing an appendix to a handful of pulp dealers and notes on pulp values."
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Best Political Bibliographies & Indexes

Power to the People: The Graphic Design of the Radical Press and the Rise of the Counter-Culture, 1964-1974
Experimental typography and wildly inventive layouts reflect an alternative media culture as much informed by the space age, television, and socialism as it was by the great trinity of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. Beyond its unparalleled images, Power to the People includes essays by Gwen Allen, Bob Ostertag, and Fred Turner, as well as a series of recollections edited by Pamela M. Lee, all of which comment on the critical impact of the alternative press in the social and popular movements of those turbulent years. This is a remarkable collection curating artifacts from the diverse worlds of feminists, leftists, technology visionaries, gays and other factions all liberated by cheap printing. (Paul Krassner, author of Confessions of a Raving, Unconfined Nut). “The production methods of the Vietnam era underground press seem crude compared to today’s digital technology, but they freed non-corporate journalists, artists, designers, and political activists to publish stunning layout and radical writing cheaply, easily, and in huge quantities, enough to create a worldwide revolution whose effects are still being felt today. In Power to the People, Geoff Kaplan has created a select kaleidoscopic gallery of cover and inside page designs from the vast portfolio of papers that the Vietnam era antiwar countercultural community gifted to the world through their personal struggles, celebrations, and discoveries. Valuable accompanying essays describe how it was done, and also draw the connection to today’s social media radicals, whose roots—whether they know it or not (and too often they don’t)—are with the underground press—and who owe it to themselves to read everything they can about these papers.”. (Ken Wachsberger, editor of Voices from the Underground series). "Railing against a senseless war, pollution, and police violence while celebrating the many social and cultural advances of the time, this passionate artwork, like Renaissance painting, crystallizes a spirit that is obviously dated, but also timeless." ( Village Voice ). “Documenting the power and significance of the counterculture publications of the sixties (understood, culturally, as the years between the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the end of the Vietnam War), this volume is a superb contribution to several disciplines.
Reviews
"Underground comics (a topic in-and-of-itself, of course) should merit attention as they were part-and-parcel of the radical press. Nonetheless, there's not much available on the topic and this book, despite its deficiencies, is a reasonable first attempt compilation."
"I'm an academic librarian and I used this this book to help teach students in a journalism course about the impact the graphic design of the underground press had on 1960s counterculture. I've read just about every book on the underground press of the 1960s and early 1970s and this is the best one I've come across which specifically covers the radical design and psychedelic art of underground newspapers."
"Great book but was clearly dropped before shipping and has crushed corners on two sides."
"Not only does Power to the People not focus attention on The East Village Other, but EVO is mentioned a bare three times, only once in any way one could consider directly. The graphics in Power to the People are abundant and, for the most part, impressive. I won't tout my own work (although some of it was pretty good and one or two pieces were actually historic from a technical perspective--a subject that Kaplan claims to cover in his book but doesn't to any genuine extent) but we had regular artists during the heyday like the late Spain Rodriguez, Peter Mikliunas and Kim Deitch who produced graphics and cartoons that no one else in the underground press could compete with. And not just the underground press, but the mainstream press as well, after a time. Sure, all of these things were a part of what was taking place; but these issues were not the central issues back then. That last part has become the issues in specification today--women's rights, LGBTQ rights, anti-corporatism, etc--and that's mostly what the essays are about, I think. But we didn't have the same perspective in the late 1960s and early 1970s as we have today, obviously, so the work we did then speaks to these issues--when they speak to them at all--in a very different manner. The gay press didn't have space on public newsstands (neither did some "straight" underground papers) until very late in the period, and in some parts of the country not until recently. I learned everything I knew about the art of photo-copying on that machine and in that darkroom, and my experience was being repeated in Boston and Ann Arbor and Berkeley and Miami and many other places (I know this because a few years later, thanks to Bob bless-me-I-can't-remember-his-last-name I was the second employee of the Underground Press Syndicate and talked to people in these places and found out their histories). It wasn't until the technology went completely cold press in the early 1970s, and we could slap together a 32-page paper with columns and photos overnight with two people--and I did that several times before I ran out of steam and quit--that situations changed. Especially in New York and the other major cities, the mob(s) took over the straight and gay underground porn papers and then the distribution for most of the larger underground papers and the industry started to change in parts and die in parts."
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Best Communication & Media Studies

The True Story of Fake News: How Mainstream Media Manipulates Millions
You will see the powerful and deceptive methods of manipulation that affect us all, as numerous organizations and political activists cunningly plot to have their stories seen, heard, and believed by as many people as possible. The depths of lies, distortions, and omissions from traditional mainstream media will shock you; and now they’re colluding with the top tech companies trying to maintain their information monopolies. Mark's YouTube channel has over 1 million subscribers and more than 400 million views, and his viral videos have been mentioned on the Fox News Channel, CNN, the Drudge Report, TMZ, the New York Daily News , the Washington Times , and other media outlets around the world.
Reviews
"I believe a person that is not ready to be awakened may experience severe soul pain and Mark forgot to put "Trigger warning" on the cover but still I believe for awakened people this is going to be great laugh and joy to read pages and see how death of media complex is unravelling and humanity awakening while people that still caught in nets of news manipulators may feel really bad but after few weeks I believe healing effects of truth will be refreshing."
"The book mentions how our leftists media is trying to persuade us to accept insanity like there being more than 2 genders, and how the media is pushing fake hate crimes committed by leftists in attempt to frame Trump supporters as Nazis,white Supremacists,KKK members, and racist."
"A lot of people don't know history and how much the media has been involved with the CIA and FBI and the rest of our federal gov't to create stories, manipulate events, etc."
"The news media has become so untrustworthy, the majority of sane Americans have seen this before even reading Marks book!"
"Great book and well written!!!!"
"Excellent book; this will not disappoint."
"Awesome work once again by Mark Dice as he exposes the nature of propaganda - otherwise known as the mainstream news in America."
"A must read."
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Computers & Technology

The True Story of Fake News: How Mainstream Media Manipulates Millions
You will see the powerful and deceptive methods of manipulation that affect us all, as numerous organizations and political activists cunningly plot to have their stories seen, heard, and believed by as many people as possible. The depths of lies, distortions, and omissions from traditional mainstream media will shock you; and now they’re colluding with the top tech companies trying to maintain their information monopolies. Mark's YouTube channel has over 1 million subscribers and more than 400 million views, and his viral videos have been mentioned on the Fox News Channel, CNN, the Drudge Report, TMZ, the New York Daily News , the Washington Times , and other media outlets around the world.
Reviews
"I believe a person that is not ready to be awakened may experience severe soul pain and Mark forgot to put "Trigger warning" on the cover but still I believe for awakened people this is going to be great laugh and joy to read pages and see how death of media complex is unravelling and humanity awakening while people that still caught in nets of news manipulators may feel really bad but after few weeks I believe healing effects of truth will be refreshing."
"The book mentions how our leftists media is trying to persuade us to accept insanity like there being more than 2 genders, and how the media is pushing fake hate crimes committed by leftists in attempt to frame Trump supporters as Nazis,white Supremacists,KKK members, and racist."
"A lot of people don't know history and how much the media has been involved with the CIA and FBI and the rest of our federal gov't to create stories, manipulate events, etc."
"The news media has become so untrustworthy, the majority of sane Americans have seen this before even reading Marks book!"
"Great book and well written!!!!"
"Excellent book; this will not disappoint."
"Awesome work once again by Mark Dice as he exposes the nature of propaganda - otherwise known as the mainstream news in America."
"A must read."
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Best Rock Music

Born to Run
1949), known for his work with the E Street Band, and his brand of poetic lyrics - Americana, working class, sometimes political sentiments centered on his native New Jersey - his distinctive voice, and his lengthy and energetic stage performances.
Reviews
"The motivations, the demons, the anxiety, the joys, the fears, the hopes, the dreams, all the elements that have constituted the Boss’s muse over these past 50 years are explained here. I do not want to reveal any of the revelations the reader will discover within the pages of this book, but I can say it was interesting to learn that Bruce possesses many of the same insecurities of us mere mortals. Bruce discloses, in great detail, particulars of his early years, his upbringing, the issues that influenced the way he thinks, his musically formative years, his wide held acclaim, his family, his doubts, his fears, and a treasure trove of personal details I have never heard before. Bruce has obviously spent much time in intense introspection, and he shares many of his insights and conclusions here. Now that the great James Brown has passed on, the moniker, “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business,” clearly belongs to Bruce. His unique gifts of lyric writing, musical composition, musicianship, and studio and on stage performance have rarely been seen in a single person. If you have ever wondered exactly what it is that makes one of the greatest of this or any other generation’s musical talents tick, it is all right here. Through a lifetime of events he details here, his skills developed and he has evolved into the national and world treasure affectionately referred to as "The Boss.""
"I read Bob Dylan's Chronicles a couple of years ago, and was struck by the artistic voice of the book."
"I love it so much. I didn't just learn about Bruce Springsteen's music, I learnt about some aspects of his life and some things about America. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed reading the whole book."
"Freehold, Asbury Park, New York City, San Francisco, London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, Memphis, and even Big Sur's Esalen make an appearance. The tension between the spontaneous nature of his live shows and the crafting of his music into recordings is palpable in the pages of "Born to Run"."
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Best Lifestyle & Event Photography

Humans of New York
Now an instant #1 New York Times bestseller, Humans of New York began in the summer of 2010, when photographer Brandon Stanton set out to create a photographic census of New York City. The Top 5 Humans of New York Brandon Stanton's thousands of not-quite-candid street portraits of New Yorkers (and accompanying captions, usually from the subjects themselves) have made his Humans of New York blog both poignant and extremely popular--as well as garnering him recognition as one of Time magazine's "30 People Under 30 Changing the World." This book of the same title collects 400 of his best portraits, telling small stories that are outsized in their humor, candor, and humanity. Normally I'm a bit downtrodden if I'm unable to interview a subject, but I thought her 'brush-off' was the perfect complement to the photo. I found these kids in the Lower East Side, making the most of a hot summer day. But his shyness ended up coming through beautifully, creating a portrait of the relationship between mother and son.
Reviews
"The only thing that I would recommend is to purchase the print version, as the Kindle version has some annoying problems. I purchased it for use on my iPad, but found that many of the captions failed to display properly, and many of the pages failed to turn when I tapped the screen."
"Over the past 40 years I have been traveling around the US and the globe I have been doing this in my mine and sometimes by interviewing the people I meet."
"Brandon Stanton has done so much to help people SEE each other."
"They had no clue where it came from till I called and asked how they liked the book."
"Everything about this book is amazing."
"I see so many photographs everyday but just don't have what it takes to approach random strangers without feeling creepy."
"Book arrived promptly and in the condition described."
"That's what I got when I bought Humans of New York, which I think is the most exciting and one of the best photography books I've ever seen. When Stanton labels a photo, he gets it just right with a few words, or he let's the subject explain him or herself, such as the pretty girl with an attitude and fabulous hair, who says: "I'm going to let you take my photo because you seem like a genuine person."
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