Gossip, Joseph Epstein
Gossip, Joseph Epstein
List: $16.99 | Sale: $11.89
Club: $8.49

Gossip
The Untrivial Pursuit

Author: Joseph Epstein

Narrator: Arthur Morey

Unabridged: 7 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 12/12/2011


Synopsis

To his successful examinations of some of the most powerful forces in
modern life—envy, ambition, snobbery, friendship—the keen observer
and critic Joseph Epstein now adds Gossip. No trivial matter,
despite its reputation, gossip, he argues, is an eternal and necessary
human enterprise. Proving that he himself is a master of the art,
Epstein serves up delightful mini-biographies of the Great Gossips of
the Western World along with many choice bits from his own experience.
He also makes a powerful case that gossip has morphed from its
old-fashioned best—clever, mocking, a great private pleasure—to a
corrosive new-school version, thanks to the reach of the mass media and
the Internet. Gossip has invaded and changed for the worse politics and
journalism, causing unsubstantiated information to be presented as fact.
Contemporary gossip claims to reveal truth, but as Epstein shows, it's
our belief in truth that gossip today threatens to undermine and
destroy. Written in his trademark erudite and witty style, Gossip captures the complexity of this immensely entertaining subject.

About Joseph Epstein

Joseph Epstein is the bestselling author of books including Snobbery and Friendship. He was formerly editor of the American Scholar, and his work has appeared in the New Yorker, Harper's, the Atlantic, and other magazines. Joseph lives in Evanston, Illinois.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Tom

Somehow Joseph Epstein explains why gossip is vile and necessary while sharing lurid details that we are ashamed to know and yet happy to get. The truth is Epstein is the greatest essayist of his generation and a joy to read on any topic. If you can turn a phrase as he does you give up your day job......more

Goodreads review by ShanTil

Bro managed to take one of humanity’s favorite pastimes and turn it into a pearl-clutching snoozefest......more

Goodreads review by Lanre

Former American Scholar editor and author, Joseph Epstein writes about gossip, that much-excoriated yet apparently unstoppable human activity that knows neither historical nor cultural bounds. Educated fleas may not do it, but all human beings seem to enjoy that conspiratorial atmosphere of intimacy......more

Goodreads review by Tiffany

One wonders how a book on gossip can be so boring. One also wonders why one feels one must speak like this after one reads this book.......more

Goodreads review by David

I had no idea what to expect when I picked this up, and ultimately found it more engaging than I thought I would. He did not have a lot to say was new or that struck me as especially insightful, but again I enjoyed it. A good book to have stumbled across.......more