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The Death of Spin (Hardcover)

by George Pitcher (Author) "Things could only get better in 1997, or so the triumphant supporters of the UK Labour Party believed as they celebrated their first election victory..." (more)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 272 pages
  • Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (29 Oct 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0470850485
  • ISBN-13: 978-0470850480
  • Product Dimensions: 22.3 x 14.5 x 2.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 466,456 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

"…the prize for ponderous pap this week goes to George Pitcher, author of The Death of Spin…" (The Guardian (City Diary), 12 November 2002)

"…Pitcher writes knowledgably and persuasively on the financial and political dimensions of PR practice…reminiscent in its breadth of fellow former Observer journalist Anthony Sampson’s Anatomy of Britain, it also shares some of the moral questioning characteristic of the management writer Charles Handy…"(www.writeeffect.co.uk 22 November 2002)

"…The author of this incisive volume is a former spin doctor…his comments on vacuous Late review–style criticism are worth the cover price alone…" (Scotland on Sunday, 15 December 2002)

"…a fine book, from a man who has not only seen spin…but thought about it too…" (Management Today, January 2003)

"…this small book, big on ideas, is the best survey of our business I’ve read in years…" (Profile (Institute of Public Relations), February 2003)

"…Help, and an antidote, is at hand in the shape of George Pitcher’s important new book…lively, witty, and thoroughly entertaining…" (Accounting & Business, March 2003)

"…important book on public relations…" (The Write Effect, 23 June 2003)

"…a very interesting book on a fascinating subject…" (M2 Best Books, 25 March 2003)



Review

"…the prize for ponderous pap this week goes to George Pitcher, author of The Death of Spin…" (The Guardian (City Diary), 12 November 2002)

"…Pitcher writes knowledgably and persuasively on the financial and political dimensions of PR practice…reminiscent in its breadth of fellow former Observer journalist Anthony Sampson’s Anatomy of Britain, it also shares some of the moral questioning characteristic of the management writer Charles Handy…"(www.writeeffect.co.uk 22 November 2002)

"…The author of this incisive volume is a former spin doctor…his comments on vacuous Late review–style criticism are worth the cover price alone…" (Scotland on Sunday, 15 December 2002)

"…a fine book, from a man who has not only seen spin…but thought about it too…" (Management Today, January 2003)

"…this small book, big on ideas, is the best survey of our business I’ve read in years…" (Profile (Institute of Public Relations), February 2003)

"…Help, and an antidote, is at hand in the shape of George Pitcher’s important new book…lively, witty, and thoroughly entertaining…" (Accounting & Business, March 2003)

"…important book on public relations…" (The Write Effect, 23 June 2003)

"…a very interesting book on a fascinating subject…" (M2 Best Books, 25 March 2003)

 

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Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
Things could only get better in 1997, or so the triumphant supporters of the UK Labour Party believed as they celebrated their first election victory for nearly 18 years. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Anatomy of spin, 7 Nov 2002
Spin has entered the lexicon in the last twenty years. This book is our guide to the trends in business, politics and society that have led to the culture of spin.

New Labour offers the author his best (and most obvious) examples, but he detects great changes in attitude to spin between the last two parliaments. Indeed, he views the year 2000 as the high water mark of the culture of spin.

At the height of the dot-com boom early that year, Martha Lane-Fox explained the high stock market valuation of her company Lastminute.com in these words. 'It's all hype'.

The author, a former industrial editor, is scornful of the dot-com boom that fuelled the culture of spin. But as a present PR practitioner, he is not about to undermine his business.

His point is that the spin culture has led to a lack of engagement in politics and a mistrust of big business. His way forward is to engage in debate on the issues that concern consumers, investors and the electorate.

The impending debate on Britain's entry into the single currency will be a defining one in this development, he argues. And companies need to demonstrate belief in coroporate community involvement (CSR), not just mouth platitudes.

It's not all good news for those in public relations. Many of their agency functions are disappearing in the internet age - but communicators who can understand and be understood by audiences as diverse as shareholders, politicians, customers, employees and activists ('Crusties' in his word) have an important part to play.

He conculdes that we're a bored generation. We lack belief. Spin played its part in this, but proper management of issues that matter can make a difference.

Perhaps the culture of spin will come to be seen as a moment of millennium madness. If so, this moment has found its chronicler in George Pitcher.

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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Boring Book, 6 April 2006
By A Customer
I bought this book in the hope of getting insight into the British PR business and the methodology of spin. Poorly structured, interceded with out of context excerpts, this book makes it hard even to the most dedicated reader to follow the yarn. Absolutely not worth the money.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars George Pitcher's Incisive look at the world of spin, 28 Aug 2004
By N. Evans "sassylad" (Notting Hill) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
The death of spin is an excellent eulogy to the black art of spin, it's rise over the years and it's death in the early years of the 21st century as everything it stands for becomes an object of distrust and ridcule.

George Pitcher's narrative is fast paced and entertaining covering a subject that many have tried to tackle with wit and humour as well as great insight, and let's face it someone often called a spin doctor himself at London's strategic communications firm Luther Pendragon he should know all about the black art that is spin and where it's going in the 21st Century.

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5.0 out of 5 stars great insider account
I loved this. Amusing anecdotes from someone who seems to have been there for most of the big developments in spin, combined with some deep thinking about what it all means... Read more
Published on 1 Dec 2002

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