Winner of the 2005 George Polk Book Award Victor S. Navasky is the renowned editor, writer, and educator who was at the helm of "The Nation" for almost thirty years. "A Matter of Opinion, "a scintillating reflection on his experiences, is an extraordinary political document--and a passionately written, irresistibly charming account of a great journalistic tradition. Victor S. Navasky came to "The Nation" as editor in 1978, was made publisher and general partner in 1995, and is now publisher emeritus. The Delacorte Professor of Journalism at Columbia University and Director of the George Delacorte Center for Magazine Journalism, he chairs the "Columbia Journalism Review." He was the founder, editor, and publisher of "Monocle"," " an editor for the "New York Times Magazine"," " and a columnist for the "New York Times Book Review." The author of "Naming Names, "which won the National Book Award in 1982, and "Kennedy Justice, " he lives in New York City. Winner of the George Polk AwardWinner of the Anne M. Sperber Prize How do we encourage and protect public discourse, so essential to democracy? What function, if any, do journals of opinion--magazines that critically assess the key issues of the day--perform in helping ideas to flow freely and citizens to think for themselves? These questions animate Victor S. Navasky's book, in which he ranges over his own experiences as a journalist and editor in quest of the answers. Navasky gravitated toward journalism when still in college, and as a law student at Yale he founded the now-legendary satirical magazine "Monocle." Freelance writing and other journalistic work followed, including a stint at "The New York Times Magazine" that Navasky describes in these pages. His amused skepticism about the behavior of "mainstream media," about journalists who strive for but cannot ever attain a purported ideal of objectivity, has been in constant evidence throughout his long career as a gadfly, critic, and commentator.
In 1978, when Navasky became editor of "The Nation," the celebrated century-old journal of political opinion, he proudly confirmed his intention to continue its critical assessments of the news, thereby enriching our undernourished politics and culture. Navasky's shrewd accounts of the eternal battles over money and editorial control, over independence and market power, over responsibility and freedom in the press, are enhanced by unforgettable anecdotes about the brave and less brave, rich and poor, famous and little-known figures in the business of publishing news--and opinions about news. From I. F. Stone to Paul Newman, from Calvin Trillin to Jurgen Habermas, from William Buckley to "Mother Jones"--here are characters in a drama that engages us all. "Anybody who has ever dreamed of starting a magazine, or worried that the country is losing the ability to speak seriously to itself, should read "A Matter of Opinion.""--Thomas Powers, "The New York Times Book Review"
"[A] graceful mix of memoir and meditation on journals of opinion and the stubborn enthusiasts who end up running them."--"Harper's Magazine"
"'Journals of opinion are not by themselves going to save the world, ' Navasky admits, but, in nearly three decades of running "The Nation" and in four hundred-odd pages here, he remains a tireless evangelist for the idea that the world as we know it--liberal, democratic, and Enlightened--won't be saved without them and the public discourse they foster. Opinion magazines themselves, however, survive on the strength of their editors, or, as Navasky points out, on the reach of their editors' Rolodexes, and, luckily for "The Nation," Navasky knows almost everyone. The front-room tour of his charmed rise from the Little Red School House to the publisher's chair includes visits with Bob Guccione, Paul Newman, and Jurgen Habermas. Along the way, Allen Ginsberg sleeps on the floor, formerly blacklisted members of the Hollywood Ten defame each other, and Norman Mailer claims he's never sold out.""--The New Yorker" "This lively memoir recounts Mr. Navasky's wonderful and often hilarious life as a journalistic entrepreneur."--Seth Lipsky, "The ""New York Sun"
"In tracing the colorful path of his career . . . Navasky defends the relevance of ideological magazines across the political spectrum . . . Navasky brings a clear-eyed candor to discussing the lengths to which his magazine has gone to maintain its viability."--Romesh Ratnesar, "Time" "This has got to be the kinkiest love story of our time--a man in love with a magazine, and the two of them in love with a nation. What a menage! Untamed passion, big money, adult language, breakups, rapprochements, and a wonderful assortment of eccentric supporting character--it's all here in Navasky's brave confession. But let the reader be warned: this bizarre love story, though such wicked fun to read, puts our deepest moral values on display."--E. L. Doctorow
"The autobiography of a great magazine by the person who has best embodied it over the years. 'Wily' and 'parsimonious' are adjectives often applied to Navasky; now we can add 'charming, ' 'witty, ' and 'consistently entertaining.'"--Barbara Ehrenreich
"Navasky is an editor journalists would kill to work for if he weren't so cheap. He listens. He laughs. He makes mistakes and sometimes admits them. He is as generous as he is smart. In its modest way, this wry page-turner reveals Navasky's importance in our times."--Ken Auletta "There is no doubt: Victor Navasky is a force for our time. This is a book for true enjoyment and enlightenment."--John Kenneth Galbraith "Navasky is that most valuable of journalists: the subversive patriot who lives his country too much to see it become a plaything for plutocrats, scalawags, and scoundrels; who loves justice too much to see it betrayed by false prophets; and who loves his craft too much to see it as anything but a calling. I cherish this account of his adventures for reminding us why the journalism of opinion is the heart and soul of democracy--as long as the last opinion is never assumed to be the right one."--Bill Moyers "Part memoir and part commentary on the state of opinion journals and American politics, Navasky, publisher of "The Nation" and a journalism professor, offers a scintillating look at his life and career. He recalls his escapades at Yale Law School, where he started the satirical magazine "Monocle," beginning his long and sometimes hilarious efforts at providing lively commentary on national events and staying afloat financially. He recalls his association with rising young writers and commentators, including Calvin Trillin, Nora Ephron, and Ralph Nader, and his experiences as a freelancer, including work for "The New York Times." All he learned about the magazine trade, harnessing literary talent, maintaining honest debate about social issues, and keeping the bills paid proved helpful when the chance came to own and operate "The Nation," America's oldest weekly magazine. He offers fascinating stories of publishing giants and political personalities, including his magazine opponent William F. Buckley. As the tren

"Mission Accomplished! Or How We Won the War in Iraq" is the definitive collection -- systematically categorized, indexed, and footnoted for your convenience -- of authoritative misinformation, disinformation, misunderstanding, miscalculation, egregious prognostication, boo-boos, and just plain lies, about the Iraq War.

"Never before has such a large and diverse group of experts been so unanimously in favor of a particular national policy as they were in the case of the U.S. invasion of Iraq," note Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky, who, as co-founders of the Institute of Expertology, the nation's leading purveyor of expertise on expertise, were uniquely qualified to assemble this impressive collection. "In the face of such a consensus, we had no choice but to ask ourselves, 'Could the iron law of expertology -- the experts are never right -- be wrong?'"

At once an entertainment, a cautionary tale, a critique of mass media, a reference tool, and a postwar manifesto, "Mission Accomplished!" presents, as no book has before, the collective wisdom of all those who are presumed to know what they talking about on the subject of America's adventure in Iraq. As this hilarious, yet depressing, volume demonstrates, they don't.

From MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

"Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."

-- President George W. Bush, May 1, 2003

"[Insurgents] pose no strategic threat to the United States or to the Coalition Forces."

-- L. Paul Bremer III, Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, November 17, 2003

"Military action will not last more than a week."

-- Bill O'Reilly, "The O'Reilly Factor, " January 23, 2003

"I couldn't imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah."

-- President George W. Bush, at a White House menorah lighting ceremony, December 10, 2001

With a New Afterword by the Author

“An astonishing work concerning personal honor and dishonor, shame and shamelessness. A book of stunning insights and suspense.” —Studs Terkel

Half a century later, the investigation of Hollywood radicals by the House Committee on Un-American Activities still haunts the public conscience. Naming Names, reissued here with a new afterword by the author, is the definitive account of the hearings, a National Book Award winner widely hailed as a classic. Victor S. Navasky adroitly dissects the motivations for the investigation and offers a poignant analysis of its consequences. Focusing on the movie-studio workers who avoided blacklists only by naming names at the hearings, he explores the terrifying dilemmas of those who informed and the tragedies of those who were informed on. Drawing on interviews with more than 150 people called to testify—among them Elia Kazan, Ring Lardner Jr., and Arthur Miller—Naming Names presents a compelling portrait of how the blacklists operated with such chilling efficiency.

Did you ever have the uneasy feeling the experts
are not . . . well, expert?

"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."
--Irving Fisher, professor of economics at Yale University, October 17, 1929

"Forget it, Louis, no Civil War picture ever made a nickel."
--Irving Thalberg's warning to Louis B. Mayer regarding Gone With the Wind

"We don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out."
--Decca Recording Company executive, turning down the Beatles, 1962

"With over fifty foreign cars already on sale here the Japanese auto industry isn't likely to carve out a big share of the market for itself."--Business Week, 1968

"There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home."
--President of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977

"Bill Clinton will lose to any Republican who doesn't drool on stage."
--The Wall Street Journal, in a 1995 editorial


The Experts Speak systematically catalogues, footnotes, and sets straight these and a couple of thousand other examples of expert misunderstanding, miscalculation, egregious prognostication, boo-boos, and just plain lies. The experts have been wrong about everything under, including, and beyond the sun: time, space, the sexes, the races, the environment, economics, politics, crime, education, the media, history, and science. In this expanded and updated edition (now more error-filled than ever), we see just how much the experts don't know.  But the book also goes deeper, presenting a through-the-looking-glass chronicle of human knowledge: the story of what was and is so, as seen through the story of what we wanted to and did believe.