It is often said that a free press is the watchdog of democracy, insuring that the conduct of our leaders is examined with a critical eye. This makes Greg Mitchell the watchdog of watchdogs, as tracking the performance of the media is his priority at Editor and Publisher, the influential magazine of the newspaper industry. In 2003, Greg Mitchell was one of the few journalists to question the grounds for the war in Iraq. Today, Mitchell looks ahead at lessons for the future with an original introduction and connecting material that updates and unifies his original essays and scrutiny of America's media coverage. With more than 75 of Mitchell's columns, this book provides a unique history of the conflict, from the hyped weapons of mass destruction stories to the surge.

Worthy of shelving alongside the best of the Iraq books. -- Kirkus Greg Mitchell has given us a razor-sharp critique of how the media and the government connived in one of the great blunders of American foreign policy. Every aspiring journalist, every veteran, every pundit--and every citizen who cares about the difference between illusion and reality, propaganda and the truth, and looked to the press to help keep them separate--should read this book. Twice. --Bill Moyers

Greg Mitchell is the editor of Editor & Publisher, the journal of the newspaper business which has won several major awards for its coverage of Iraq and the media. He has written eight books, including Hiroshima in America (with Robert Jay Lifton) and T he Campaign of the Century: Upton Sinclair's Race for Governor of California and the Birth of Media Politics, and his articles have appeared in dozens of leading newspapers and magazines. He lives in the New York City area. Joseph L. Galloway is one of the most respected war correspondents of our time and currently writes a syndicated column on military affairs. He co-authored the bestselling We Were Soldiers Once...and Young and the forthcoming We Are Soldiers Still. He was awarded a Bronze Star for valor in Vietnam.