I mentioned on my blog on Sunday that I had just begun reading Eric Boehlert’s Bloggers on the Bus.
I’m still not finished with it, and I’m still excited about the fact that the blogosphere’s history, its major players, and its effects offline are being recorded, and published, in a book.
Anyone who’s spent more than a week exploring the blogosphere knows the impact it has had politically, but to see it spelled out so vividly, and in such detail, is something else altogether. After all, who hasn’t seen the sneering condescension on the faces of mainstream media anytime blogging has come up?
Even now, as some of the hostility toward the blogosphere by the mainstream media has melted, it’s difficult to find any mention or discussion of the many stories that play out online. In the mainstream media, I’ve yet to see anything other than discussion or description of bloggers as anything other than a single, monolithic entity–that coincidentally, collectively think, believe, and say the same things.
By publishing standards, this book is relatively new–it was published in 2009. By the standards of the internet, this is ancient, of course.
If you’re interested in learning how many of the internet’s largest blogging communities got their start (one of my favorite blogs, Shakesville, is featured in the book.) or if you need to see how your average Jane has made a difference politically, you should definitely give this book a chance.
Thanks to my uncle Gary, for giving me the book!
