Reviews

Intellectual journalism in Britain can be traced back to the beginning of the 19th century. Berry, a freelance journalist who contributes to contemporary journals, covers the prominent intellectual periodicals and their key editors of the movement. Beginning with Frances Jeffrey's editorship of the Edinburgh Review, a quarterly, from 1802 to 1829, Berry details how British journals of opinion exercised worldwide influence on political and literary journalism. Under Jeffrey, the Edinburgh Review established the precedent for editorial independence, and it regularly criticized popular authors such as Wordsworth and Coleridge. As the tempo of communication changed, quarterlies were upstaged in the late 1800s by monthlies such as the Fortnightly Review and the Review of Reviews. Continuing the chronology into the 20th century, Berry relates the strange history of the anti-Communist cultural review, Encounter, founded in 1953 and funded by the CIA. The narrative closes with an overview of the London Review of Books, which began in 1979, and concludes with an open question about the future of intellectual journalism in a commercialized media culture. Readers who have a strong background in British cultural history and an interest in the history of publishing will appreciate this book. Academic libraries with strong collections in these areas should consider.-Judy Solberg, The George Washington Univ. Libs., Washington, DC Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.