William Powers, a former staff writer for the "Washington Post", has written about media, technology, and other subjects for a wide variety of publications, including the "Atlantic", the "New York Times", and "McSweeney's". This book grew out of research he did as a fellow at Harvard University's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. A two-time winner of the Arthur Rowse Award for media criticism, he lives on Cape Cod with his wife, author Martha Sherrill, and their son. This is his first book.