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This volume is a collection of the columns the author wrote for Esquire magazine from 1975 to 1977. Her subject was the media, especially print journalism.
163 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
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About the author
Nora Ephron
53 books2,810 followersNora Ephron was an American journalist, film director, producer, screenwriter, novelist, and blogger.
She was best known for her romantic comedies and is a triple nominee for the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay; for Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless in Seattle. She sometimes wrote with her sister, Delia Ephron.
She was best known for her romantic comedies and is a triple nominee for the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay; for Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless in Seattle. She sometimes wrote with her sister, Delia Ephron.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
July 5, 2020
I bought this book decades ago in a used bookstore (remember them?). I was familiar with Ephron from her movies and her novel Heartburn, which I periodically pick up for its casual, seemingly effortless voice (especially if my own writing seems awkward and cumbersome, like this sentence).
The book reprints 24 articles Ephron wrote in the mid-1970s for her monthly media column in Esquire. There's also one article Esquire refused to run, presumably because it touched on the magazine's libel and out-of-court settlement practices.
There's a wide range of subjects. Ephron will sometimes look at people associated with a publication, like Dorothy Schiff, publisher, editor and owner of the New York Post, where Ephron got her first big break, or Brendan Gill and The New Yorker (one of the most savage take downs in the collection).
Other times, Ephron will put a publication itself under the microscope: the new, fledgling People Magazine, for instance, or the glossy, aspirational pages of Gourmet or the New York Times' food sections. One of the funniest pieces dissects a little-known periodical called the Palm Beach Social Pictorial (the name kind of says it all). In a self-indulgent low point, Ephron even writes about her apartment building's circulated bulletin.
My favourite articles – and the ones, I think, that have the most lasting value – examine ethical issues in journalism. Should a photographer have taken pictures of a mother and daughter falling off a fire escape during a fire, as Stanley Forman famously did in 1976? What constitutes conflict of interest for a food critic (her story about New Orleans critic Richard Collin is a doozy). Should sources be paid to appear on television? If American Express picks up the $4000 tab for a Craig Claiborne meal and the Times puts the article on page one, is that okay?
What's most exciting about the book is watching Ephron experiment. "The Making Of Theodore H. White" is a note-perfect parody of the noted historian's fussy, pretentious prose. "How to Write a Newsmagazine Cover Story" satirizes cookie cutter celebrity profile writing. Her article on the long-running British soap opera Upstairs, Downstairs is a whimsical, chatty piece that shows what she would accomplish later with dialogue.
In fact, reading this collection all the way through, you can sense Ephron becoming disillusioned with the media. There's too much emphasis on celebrity, she tells us, and journalists themselves are becoming celebrities.
In a year or two she would soon break through with her own screenplays and movies, bringing her wise, wry voice to a much larger audience. But I'm glad to have Ephron's articles and essays around to know what was going on decades ago, and to know that there was someone with a major B.S. detector writing about it.
The book reprints 24 articles Ephron wrote in the mid-1970s for her monthly media column in Esquire. There's also one article Esquire refused to run, presumably because it touched on the magazine's libel and out-of-court settlement practices.
There's a wide range of subjects. Ephron will sometimes look at people associated with a publication, like Dorothy Schiff, publisher, editor and owner of the New York Post, where Ephron got her first big break, or Brendan Gill and The New Yorker (one of the most savage take downs in the collection).
Other times, Ephron will put a publication itself under the microscope: the new, fledgling People Magazine, for instance, or the glossy, aspirational pages of Gourmet or the New York Times' food sections. One of the funniest pieces dissects a little-known periodical called the Palm Beach Social Pictorial (the name kind of says it all). In a self-indulgent low point, Ephron even writes about her apartment building's circulated bulletin.
My favourite articles – and the ones, I think, that have the most lasting value – examine ethical issues in journalism. Should a photographer have taken pictures of a mother and daughter falling off a fire escape during a fire, as Stanley Forman famously did in 1976? What constitutes conflict of interest for a food critic (her story about New Orleans critic Richard Collin is a doozy). Should sources be paid to appear on television? If American Express picks up the $4000 tab for a Craig Claiborne meal and the Times puts the article on page one, is that okay?
What's most exciting about the book is watching Ephron experiment. "The Making Of Theodore H. White" is a note-perfect parody of the noted historian's fussy, pretentious prose. "How to Write a Newsmagazine Cover Story" satirizes cookie cutter celebrity profile writing. Her article on the long-running British soap opera Upstairs, Downstairs is a whimsical, chatty piece that shows what she would accomplish later with dialogue.
In fact, reading this collection all the way through, you can sense Ephron becoming disillusioned with the media. There's too much emphasis on celebrity, she tells us, and journalists themselves are becoming celebrities.
In a year or two she would soon break through with her own screenplays and movies, bringing her wise, wry voice to a much larger audience. But I'm glad to have Ephron's articles and essays around to know what was going on decades ago, and to know that there was someone with a major B.S. detector writing about it.
March 22, 2011
I had to reread this before sending it to the library book sale. I cannot, of course, get rid of it without rereading it first. Clearing some space on my shelves is going to take awhile.
I enjoy Ephron's writing, though I'll probably (reread and then) get rid of Heartburn, too.
The columns collected in this book were written in the mid-70s. I don't know if it's the time distance from that period or the New York/D.C.-centrism of the pieces that confused me - there were many references to people or events that I just didn't recognize. I was certainly able to read and enjoy the pieces without knowledge of these references, but they caught me up. It works well as a window into the era of the 70s, and also into the world of journalism.
I enjoy Ephron's writing, though I'll probably (reread and then) get rid of Heartburn, too.
The columns collected in this book were written in the mid-70s. I don't know if it's the time distance from that period or the New York/D.C.-centrism of the pieces that confused me - there were many references to people or events that I just didn't recognize. I was certainly able to read and enjoy the pieces without knowledge of these references, but they caught me up. It works well as a window into the era of the 70s, and also into the world of journalism.
April 13, 2019
It seems as if many whom have given fewer stars have done so because the topics of Ephron’s essays are too topical of the time. As a book published in the seventies and compiled of essays written in the seventies about the world of journalism in the seventies, it was exactly what i expected. Some subjects were well-known to me, others were new. But overall, this book proves that Nora Ephron’s voice was always Nora Ephron, even before Heartburn and Hollywood. If you enjoy Ephron or snapshots from the last heyday of print journalism, give it a read. Five damn stars from me.
October 10, 2020
Nora Ephron apparently used to write a media analysis column for Esquire back in the 1970s. So this book is sort of a time capsule - she's commenting on the NYC-Washington media world largely, and American media at the time. So - newspapers, magazines, occasionally television. A lot of the people she mentions in this book are already dead. The ghosts of Watergate hang over this. There are times when there's a "Network" vibe. A lot of the big names that get mentioned - Clay Felker, Daniel Schorr, Theodore H. White, Russell Baker, Evans & Novak - are hardly remembered.
But it's Nora Ephron writing about it, so everything devilishly clever and keenly observed. Her parody of White's "Making of the President" style of writing is funny to anyone familiar with the books. She is scathing about the idea of journalists becoming celebrities. One piece - on how to write a news magazine cover story - was hilarious in a "you had to be there" way. She writes of newspapers long dead and you get the feeling of a historian of the Roman Empire recounting all the long-dead intrigues.
On the early People magazine: "It's almost not worth getting upset about. It's a potato chip. A snack. Empty calories. Which would be fine, really - I like potato chips. But they make you feel lousy afterward too."
Of Dorothy Schiff, publisher of the New York Post: "Every little whim she had was catered to. Her yellow onionskin memos would come down from the 15th floor, and her editors, who operated under the delusion that their balls were in escrow, would dispatch reporters."
One piece includes Nora's recipe for Beef Borscht. She writes a lot about food. Her collection of Gourmet Magazine. Her obsession with the British TV series "Upstairs, Downstairs." Most of this would probably seem like it was written in a foreign language. And there are the seeds of the future. One piece about how the Detroit News reported on a congressman's sex scandal, castigates the paper for paying attention to someone's private life in a way that would not play well today. I have really enjoyed this book, because it has no idea of what awaits it in the future - news staffs stretched thin, the great old newspapers stripped and repurposed, no expense accounts, the constant refrain of "NOW! NOW! NOW!" when reporting.
There's cleverness and sophistication to her style that was expected in those days on deadline, but they had time. An hour here or there. Discourse was on a slightly higher plane. Competition was a different animal. I'm not saying it was a better world, but different for writers. And I got all of this for $1.25 at a second-hand bookstore. I got to smell distressed 70s era paperback paper on the yellowing pages. I got to imagine big presses and linotype and Time magazine style. Well, maybe not that. But it was a nice little retreat for a few hours.
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But it's Nora Ephron writing about it, so everything devilishly clever and keenly observed. Her parody of White's "Making of the President" style of writing is funny to anyone familiar with the books. She is scathing about the idea of journalists becoming celebrities. One piece - on how to write a news magazine cover story - was hilarious in a "you had to be there" way. She writes of newspapers long dead and you get the feeling of a historian of the Roman Empire recounting all the long-dead intrigues.
On the early People magazine: "It's almost not worth getting upset about. It's a potato chip. A snack. Empty calories. Which would be fine, really - I like potato chips. But they make you feel lousy afterward too."
Of Dorothy Schiff, publisher of the New York Post: "Every little whim she had was catered to. Her yellow onionskin memos would come down from the 15th floor, and her editors, who operated under the delusion that their balls were in escrow, would dispatch reporters."
One piece includes Nora's recipe for Beef Borscht. She writes a lot about food. Her collection of Gourmet Magazine. Her obsession with the British TV series "Upstairs, Downstairs." Most of this would probably seem like it was written in a foreign language. And there are the seeds of the future. One piece about how the Detroit News reported on a congressman's sex scandal, castigates the paper for paying attention to someone's private life in a way that would not play well today. I have really enjoyed this book, because it has no idea of what awaits it in the future - news staffs stretched thin, the great old newspapers stripped and repurposed, no expense accounts, the constant refrain of "NOW! NOW! NOW!" when reporting.
There's cleverness and sophistication to her style that was expected in those days on deadline, but they had time. An hour here or there. Discourse was on a slightly higher plane. Competition was a different animal. I'm not saying it was a better world, but different for writers. And I got all of this for $1.25 at a second-hand bookstore. I got to smell distressed 70s era paperback paper on the yellowing pages. I got to imagine big presses and linotype and Time magazine style. Well, maybe not that. But it was a nice little retreat for a few hours.
-30-
December 28, 2023
delightful little essay about new orleans and spaghetti as i flew to new orleans
January 7, 2022
Sharp, snarky, intelligent, and delightful. She writes great movies, but her essays are just as fun.
December 19, 2016
A fantastically cutting read. Such a clever narrative tone with a real voice to back it up! Hilariously honest, Nora Ephron held no prisoners.
March 6, 2020
This is the second part of a two-book ebook (Crazy Salad and Scribble Scribble: Some Things About Women and Notes on Media) by Nora Ephron and I liked it less that the first Crazy Salad: Some Things About Women. Both books are personal and funny with lots of inside baseball commentary--which can be a plus or a minus. The first one centered on the women's movement and I very much enjoyed my trip down memory lane. The second on media--not so much. I married a journalist, so was very aware of many of the personalities Epron writes about, but I just couldn't get into the behind the scenes gossip. She readily admits that she didn't write her columns to be "critiques" but more of a lens on behind the camera/press/microphone antics. I still liked it for its self-referential humility and sharp wit, but it didn't grab me the way the first book did.
December 30, 2020
There's no escaping Nora Ephron's inimitable style and with a collection like this it's probably best to dip in now and then rather than read it cover to cover as I did. My favourite was her essay on the Palm Beach Social Pictorial which led me to discover Cornelia Guest who dated Mick Jagger and posed for Andy Warhol. Another interesting article about Don Riegle a Democrat congressman who had a dalliance with a staff member on his payroll who had next to none professional qualifications but was obviously endowed with other attributes. This episode led to a hardly read and mostly forgotten cash-in called The Washington Fringe Benefit. Nora has some pet peeves and the collection has some pointed references to the rise of celebrity culture. Journalistic personalities are unable it seems to resist the allure themselves often becoming the story and losing that all important objectivity. Worth reading for sure but the dated topicality of people and places took some of the edge of my enjoyment off the finished product.
March 9, 2023
Another Nora Ephron book checked off the list. Ok, I love reading her books and I am sad to report I only have one left too read, but unfortunately I did not love Scribble Scribble. What I have noticed is that her older books are not as funny to me and I crave her brash sense of humor when I read her books. There's something about her grumpiness that I love, it's like she doesn't have to try and be funny she just is. Anyways, didn't love Scribble Scribble but I am now off to read Cray Salad. Wish me luck
October 3, 2017
A good amount of this book felt over my head, given that much of what was discussed was from the '70's and '80's. However I still appreciated it for what it was and enjoyed getting a window into what was of importance to Ephron and many others during that time.
December 9, 2018
The book contained many references to things of the 70s which have little relevance now. However the writing kept me interested in reading about things that I won't have thought I cared about. It is fascinating to see what remains the same and what has changed. And Nora's writing is a joy to read.
February 18, 2019
A guiding light, as topical now as it was then. Nora’s clear voice and incisive opinions are what make this timeless. Read this if you’re interested journalism, pop culture and how both color all parts of our culture.
November 28, 2021
It’s amazing how much and yet how little has changed about the media landscape in 45 years! (The New Yorker still very much fits her description of “jaded preppy.”) I’m not sure that I agree with all of her conclusions, but it’s so interesting to see! And her prose is great
October 25, 2017
Just downright great writing. The insights about journalism and Watergate and/or journalism and celebrity, seen through today's filters are fascinating too.
July 27, 2019
treadread. in media's race, critical-isms. some crickets, otherwise critique, critique, critique.
September 11, 2019
Some archaic, but always pithy thoughts on the media landscape in the 1970s.
Of particular favorite is a piece on her apartment building's newsletter, which entails evergreen events.
Of particular favorite is a piece on her apartment building's newsletter, which entails evergreen events.
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November 6, 2019No star rating, but I remember reading this and enjoying it in college.
April 21, 2021
Not too relevant today. Most of the essays are about things that are pretty much forgotten now, more than four decades after her writing.
March 26, 2023
These Essays are mainly about journalism and current events of the late 1970s. I enjoyed the style and content. Some issues were nostalgic while other issues seem to be ongoing. Enjoy.
April 23, 2023
I felt like this started stronger than Crazy Salad, but then became even more of interest only in its time. I had to skim several pieces because I had no idea what they were about.
August 22, 2024
3.5 stars
January 24, 2025
Nora is timeless.
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January 7, 2020
I'd forgotten what a good writer Nora Ephron is!! this book was published in 1977, but most of the essays were written around 1975. So it's old news, but still relevant. Nora (we're on a first name basis) wrote about the media and she was very critical.
The essays are very short, so I've been reading three or so each night. I think my favorite so far is "Bob Haldeman and CBS" about how Haldeman totally took CBS and Mike Wallace for a ride after Watergate. This could easily be written today! The media needs to work harder to be better.
The essays are very short, so I've been reading three or so each night. I think my favorite so far is "Bob Haldeman and CBS" about how Haldeman totally took CBS and Mike Wallace for a ride after Watergate. This could easily be written today! The media needs to work harder to be better.
December 9, 2013
A compilation of writing about various issues in the media, which Ephron admits was designed partly to return her writing to the front of ‘Esquire’. She writes about contemporary issues such as the journalistic failure of the New York Post or the new, dumb magazine, People. She examines a number of journalistic issues but they are of her moment in the mid-1970s, so while her outrage is as pertinent as ever, I cannot fully appreciate her point when the examples used are unknown to me.
I did appreciate her fandom of “Upstairs, Downstairs”, which could just as easily be about today’s “Downton Abbey”, especially since the latter uses many elements, both general and specific, of the former, and has a number of cast changes whose reportage becomes spoilers, although since Ephron does not have access to that word yet, she must write “a crucial turn of the plot” which she would rather die than know in advance.
She also writes about Gourmet magazine, which gives her something to talk about and occasionally aspire to, but which has never inspired actual cooking. And I appreciated her wide concept of media/writing, which includes her clever criticism of her apartment building’s newsletter.
I did appreciate her fandom of “Upstairs, Downstairs”, which could just as easily be about today’s “Downton Abbey”, especially since the latter uses many elements, both general and specific, of the former, and has a number of cast changes whose reportage becomes spoilers, although since Ephron does not have access to that word yet, she must write “a crucial turn of the plot” which she would rather die than know in advance.
She also writes about Gourmet magazine, which gives her something to talk about and occasionally aspire to, but which has never inspired actual cooking. And I appreciated her wide concept of media/writing, which includes her clever criticism of her apartment building’s newsletter.
August 14, 2016
The perfect rating for this book would be about 3 and 1/2 stars. I really enjoyed these essays - as I have enjoyed all of Ephron's essays that I've read. The only reason for the slightly lower rating is that so many of the essays were so topical and unique to life in the 1970s that I simply didn't understand them. I found myself wishing a similar collection could have been written by Ephron in 2016. What she could have said about the media today! When she writes about celebrities and TV hosts (many of whom, I admit, I have never heard of) I wished she could have written something similar about modern news and modern celebrities. I know those essays would have been biting, funny, and truthful. Her essay on "Upstairs, Downstairs" convinced me she would have definitely been a "Downton Abbey" fan (like me) and would have written an equally hilarious essay on that show. Her final essay - in which she questions the narcissism of modern journalism - is incredibly important (perhaps especially today).
August 15, 2012
As usual Nora is a great writer. This was a collection of columns, most of which were published in Esquire magazine, about journalism and the media. My biggest problem with the book was that 1) it was pretty insiderish (okay I think I made that word up) about the media industry and 2) it was pretty dated, the columns were from the mid 1970's and I barely remember some of the people mentioned and did not know others at all. However, I still enjoy her writing and her sense of humor, and she obviously knew what she was writing about. I particularly enjoyed her columns on People and Gourmet magazines and the New Porn (which I think is still around today even if not so new, i.e. ridiculous consumerism). Some of the political insights of the times were also good. Would give it 3 and 1/2 stars if I could.
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November 23, 2023A much better collection or one unmarred by the transphobic essay that ended Crazy Salad, this collection of essays involves Ephron writing very sharp criticism of media and media outlets. It's another collection of previously published works, so the mix is by nature eclectic, but the different pieces range from very interesting book reviews of New Yorker figures to poignant and damning analyses of Watergate coverage. To the 2020 reader, what really comes through in this book is how much the medium maybe have changed in 45 years, but how little the presentation and weakness of corporate media ultimately has been. Individual references and essays do stand out, especially book reviews, but the methodology and total effect of this collection is in its way to cut through what was even at that point the total bullshit of mass media. Think Network in book form (previous to Network even!).
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews