Before its demise in 2016, the blog Gawker identified itself with the mantra, “Today’s gossip is tomorrow’s news.” The saying drew on a long history of tabloid journalism that eschewed standard journalistic ethics for a focus on rumors and grievances. In Scandalous: The Untold Story of the National Enquirer, the sprawling history of arguably the most influential tabloid in all of media is traced from its origins in the Italian mafia to its inextricable ties with the current occupant of the White House. By documenting the tabloid’s peaks and valleys, Scandalous offers an incisive look at an American media culture that helped give rise to the celebrity presidency.
