Spin This—All the Ways We Don't Tell the Truth

Spin -- intentional manipulation of the truth -- is everywhere. It's in the White House, in the courtrooms, in headlines and advertising slogans. Even couples on dates -- not to mention book blurbs -- are guilty of spin. Here, colorful news analyst Bill Press freeze-frames the culture of spin to investigate what exactly spin is, who does it and why, and its impact on American society. Using examples drawn from recent history -- the Clinton presidency, the Florida recount, and the Bush White House -- Press first probes spin's favorite haunt: politics. He then surveys incarnations of spin in journalism, law, and advertising, and chews on the spin of sex and "dating," a word that has become the very embodiment of spin. Perhaps surprisingly, however, Press argues that spin isn't all bad, and that without it the harsh truths of our times might be unbearable.

With a keen sense of humor, Spin This! turns the tables on the prime purveyors of spin by highlighting some of their biggest blunders. Looking to the future, Press notes that the twenty-first century, beginning as it has with a president who was "spun into office," will be a fertile stomping ground for spin. Don't say you weren't warned.

Bill Press is the co-host of MSNBC's Buchanan and Press. An award-winning commentator, he writes a nationally syndicated newspaper column and is a talk-show host on WMAL in Washington, D.C.