Truth and Duty - by Mary Mapes (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

A riveting account of how the public's right to know is being attacked by an unholy alliance among politicians, news organizations and corporate America.

Truth and Duty was made into the 2015 film Truth, starring Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford, Topher Grace and Elizabeth Moss.

For twenty five years, Mary Mapes has been an award-winning television producer and reporter -- the last fifteen of them for CBS News, principally for the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and 60 Minutes. She had the bedrock of respect of her peers -- in 2003 alone, she broke the story of the Abu Ghraib prison tortures (which won CBS The Peabody Award) and the existence of Strom Thurmond's illegitimate bi-racial daughter Essie Mae Washington.

But it was Dan Rather's lightning rod of a story on George W. Bush's National Guard Service that brought Mapes into an unwanted limelight. The firestorm that followed the broadcast led not only to Mapes' firing and Rather's stepping down from his anchor chair a year early, but to an unprecedented "internal" inquiry into the story -- chaired by former Reagan Attorney General Richard Thornburgh.

Peopled with an historic and colorful cast of characters--from Karl Rove to Summer Redstone to John Kerry to Col. Bobby Hodges -- this groundbreaking book about how the television news is made (and unmade) made headlines itself when first published. But this, it turns out, is only part of the story. Mapes talks for the first time about the riveting behind-the-scenes action at CBS during this frenzied period and exposes some of the largest political and social controversies that have broken in this new age of dissonance.

* Features a new chapter for the trade paper edition

From the Back Cover

"Mary Mapes succeeds in telling her story fearlessly, humorously and compellingly."--The Dallas Morning News

A riveting play-by-play of a reporter getting and defending a story that recalls All the President's Men, Truth and Duty puts readers in the center of the "60 Minutes II" story on George W. Bush's shirking of his National Guard duty. The firestorm that followed that broadcast--a conflagration that was carefully sparked by the right and fanned by bloggers--trashed Mapes' well-respected twenty-five year producing career, caused newsman Dan Rather to resign from his anchor chair early and led to an unprecedented "internal inquiry" into the story...chaired by former Reagan attorney general Richard Thornburgh.

"...trenchant..."--Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Truth and Duty examines Bush's political roots as governor of Texas, delves into what is known about his National Guard duty--or lack of service--and sheds light on the solidity of the documents that backed up the National Guard story, even including images of the actual documents in an appendix to the book. It is peopled with a colorful cast of characters--from Karl Rove to Sumner Redstone--and moves from small-town Texas to Black Rock--CBS corporate headquarters--in New York City.

"...unflinching..."--Vanity Fair

Truth and Duty connects the dots between a corporation under fire from the federal government and the decision about what kinds of stories a news network may cover. It draws a line from reporting in the trenches to the gutting of the great American tradition of a independent media and asks whether it's possible to break important stories on a powerful sitting president.

"...illuminating..."--The Buffalo News

www.truthandduty.com

Review Quotes

"Ms. Mapes details her rise and fall with a considerable amount of flair and self-deprecating humor...Simply put, she is woman, hear her roar--on behalf of both her instilled patriotism and her journalistic integrity....TRUTH AND DUTY is a good read from start to finish." --The Dallas Morning News

"Mapes musters a controlled, readable narrative about the story that became her professional undoing...the story...builds by increments (including) the memos themselves, and how they mesh--in ways large and small, in nuance and substance--with Bush's official Guard records." --The Washington Post Book World

"It's an illuminating look into journalism and the challenges reporters face in an era of blogging, instant Internet analysis, corporate ownership and network news starts." --The Buffalo News

"In...TRUTH AND DUTY, [Mapes] comes across as the kind of rip-snorting rodeo rider of the news I would have killed to work with as an editor. Her gallop through such Mapes-produced '60 Minutes II' scoops as securing Karla Faye Tucker's death row interview or tracking down Strom Thurmond's black illegitimate daughter or exposing the atrocities of Abu Ghraib gives us a heart-racing glimpse of a resourceful TV pro in her fearless prime." --Tina Brown

"TRUTH AND DUTY is a plainspoken...oftentimes sympathetic look at how the National Guard story came to be and why it fell apart." --The New York Observer

About the Author

Mary Mapes was an award-winning television news producer and reporter for twenty-five years, fifteen of them for CBS News, primarily for CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and 60 Minutes II. She lives in Dallas, Texas.