Synopses & Reviews
Ever since radio entered the American private home, technology has shaped political campaign strategy. Radio brought candidates more intimately and vividly into citizens' lives than newspapers could. The televised presidential debate of 1960 -- in which a strapping John F. Kennedy embarrassed a clammy Richard M. Nixon -- was technology's next coup. In the last decade, though, it is the internet that has radically changed the way that candidates campaign: social networking sites, YouTube, and blogs have become important vehicles for political activism. And the grand editorial and political power that this group -- the netroots, as bloggers call it -- wields has never been more apparent than in the groundbreaking 2008 presidential election.
Bloggers on the Bus traces the online events that rocked the campaign trail and reveals the untold stories of the internet activists who made them all possible. In the tradition of Timothy Crouse's classic, The Boys on the Bus, Bloggers on the Bus investigates the cutting edge of liberal politics to reveal the stories and scandals at its very heart. The cast includes everyone from former professional rock saxophonist John Amato who, years before YouTube, changed blogging forever by unleashing his TiVo and figuring out how to post TV clips online, to sixty-something Oakland housewife Mayhill Fowler, who joined the Huffington Post as a volunteer journalist and went on to break two of the biggest stories of the Democratic primary. Boehlert tells the story of acerbic West Coast blogger Digby, whose gender shocked the male-dominated blogosphere, as well as that of graphic tech Philip de Vellis, who culture-jacked an iconic Apple ad in order to create the infamous Vote Different video that influenced the Democratic primary. These are just a few of the bloggers pioneering the major shift in today's media who are profiled in Bloggers on the Bus. All of their efforts have set off an industry-wide debate about journalism and privacy and have permanently altered the character of campaign strategy.
Using the 2008 presidential race as a dramatic backdrop, Boehlert details the myriad ways these bloggers influenced both the candidates and their campaigns, while also chronicling the bitter blogger civil war that erupted during the contentious Democratic primary season. Offering unprecedented portraits of these new power brokers, Bloggers on the Bus goes behind the scenes to chronicle a media and political rebellion in the making.
Review
"Eric Boehlert's book, Bloggers on the Bus: How the Internet Changed Politics and the Press, is a tour de force about the rise of activist political blogging that deftly describes the rise of political blogging in the Bush Era. It takes the issue of political blogging and its effect on politics and journalism seriously and provides many first person accounts of how it came about." -- TalkLeft
Review
"If you're interested in the political blogosphere and the netroots in general, Eric Boehlert's Bloggers on the Bus is a great read....[A] terrifically readable and carefully reported book. Highly recommended." -- Mother Jones
Synopsis
"Boys on the Blog" by Eric Boehlert is an insider's look at how blogging and instant access media is changing politics today.
Synopsis
From the author of Lapdogs comes an intriguing examination of the world of the blogosphere as a place where political journalists—and politicians—can reach out to a niche online audience that may have been turned off by traditional media channels.
Following in the bestselling tradition of Timothy Crouse’s classic book The Boys on the Bus, Bloggers on the Bus explores how the blogosphere has revolutionized and empowered progressive political campaigning. Liberal politicking has been radically impacted by these grassroots (or "netroots") efforts, influencing the candidates and how campaigns are conducted.
Using the 2008 presidential campaign as a compelling backdrop, Boehlert colors Bloggers on the Bus with character sketches of the people who are pioneering the major shift in today’s media. He describes how years before YouTube, a former pro rock saxophonist changed blogging forever by figuring out how to post television clips online. And perhaps most famously, a sixty-something Oakland housewife and Huffington Post volunteer managed to snag one of the biggest scoops of the Democratic Primary—Obama’s closed-door "bitter" comments.
Engagingly written and indisputably relevant, Bloggers on the Bus studies the unprecedented coverage, heated controversy, and major innovations that have emerged out of the political blogosphere.
About the Author
Eric Boehlert, an award-winning journalist who has written extensively about media, politics, and pop culture, is a contributing editor to Rolling Stone, writes frequently for the Huffington Post, and is a former senior writer for Salon. He lives with his wife and two children in Montclair, New Jersey.