The Kingdom and the Power
| Author | Gay Talese |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Cleveland: World Publishing |
|
Publication date
|
1969 |
The Kingdom and the Power: Behind the Scenes at The New York Times: The Institution That Influences the World is a 1969 book by Gay Talese about the inner workings of The New York Times, the newspaper where Talese had worked for 12 years. The book was originally subtitled "The Story of The Men Who Influence The Institution That Influences the World." The book is credited with starting the trend of "media books" as noted by Portfolio at the New York University School of Journalism, books that "portraying the inner-workings of a media establishment, turning the tables on the people who write and report the news, and making them the subject."
Talese came to The New York Times in 1953 fresh out of college as an entry-level copyboy. After spending two years in the military, Talese became a sports reporter, statehouse reporter, obituarist and a general news reporter before quitting The New York Times in 1965.
Talese had already begun regularly contributing to Esquire and had received particular acclaim for his 1962 article "Joe Louis: The King as a Middle-aged Man" about boxer Joe Louis. In 1966 he wrote "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold", a profile of the singer, one of his best regarded works. This year he also wrote an article on Clifton Daniel the managing editor of his former employer The New York Times. Talese believed there was a bigger story about the paper, and began researching and writing The Kingdom and the Power. The results were first published in Harper's Magazine's January and February issues in 1969, and published by World Publishing later that year.
While Talese's book outlined the history of the paper back to Adolph Ochs's 1896 takeover of the then-failing paper, the focus was on The Times between 1945 and the 1960s. The Washington bureau of The Times sometimes was seen as the center of the paper's power, but after the death of publisher Orvil Dryfoos in 1963, Talese saw this center as shifting to New York City under Arthur Ochs "Punch" Sulzberger beginning in 1963.
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