INVESTIGATIVE BOOKS OF 2003

Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. The IRE Journal, Jan/Feb 2004 by Weinberg, Steve

Every year, Steve Weinberg does his best to compile this exclusive list for The IRE Journal. It consists of books of investigative or explanatory journalism, broadly defined, published for the first time during 2003, in the United States, in English. The list is limited to authors who work primarily as journalists for American media outlets, and who are trying to reach general audiences through retail bookstore sales. If you know of a book unintentionally omitted from this list, please send an e-mail to Steve Weinberg at weinbergs@missouri.edu or by fax at 573-882-5431.

A

* Alexander, Brian

Rapture: How Biotech Became the New Religion

(Basic Books)

* Alterman, Eric

What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News

(Basic Books)

* Anders, George

Perfect Enough: Carly Fiorina and the Reinvention of Hewlett-Packard

(Portfolio)

* Anderson, John

Art held Hostage: The Battle Over the Barnes Collection

(Norton)

* Arax, Mark, and Rick Wartzman

The King of California: J.G. Boswell and the Making of a Secret American Empire

(PublicAffairs)

* Auletta, Ken

Backstory: Inside the Business of News

(Penguin Press)

B

* Baldacci, Leslie

Inside Mrs. B's Classroom: Courage, Hope, and Learning on Chicago's South Side

(McGraw-Hill)

* Baron, David

The Beast in the Garden: A Modern Parable of Man and Nature

(Norton)

* Benedict, Jeff

No Bone Unturned: The Adventures of the Smithsonian's Top Forensic Scientist and the Legal Battle for America's Oldest Skeletons

(HarperCollins)

* Berenson, Alex

The Number: How the Drive for Quarterly Earnings Corrupted Wall Street and Corporate America

(Random House)

* Bergner, Daniel

In the Land of Magic Soldiers: A Story of White and Black in West Africa

(Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

* Blum, Howard

The Eve of Destruction: The Untold Story of the Yom Kippur War

(HarperCollins)

* Bovard, James

Terrorism and Tyranny: Trampling Freedom, Justice and Peace to Rid the World of Evil

(Palgrave)

* Bowker, Michael

Fatal Deception: The Untold Story of Asbestos

(Rodale)

* Brill, Steven

After: How America Confronted the September 12 Era

(Simon & Schuster)

* Brimelow, Peter

The Worm in the Apple: How the Teacher Unions Are Destroying American Education

(HarperCollins)

* Briody, Dan

The Iron Triangle: Inside the Secret World of the Carlyle Group

(Wiley)

* Brown, Chip

Good Morning Midnight

(Riverhead)

* Bruck, Connie

When Hollywood Had a King: The Reign of Lew Wasserman, Who Leveraged Talent Into Power and Influence

(Random House)

* Burrows, Peter

Backfire: Carly Fiorina's High-Stakes Battle for the Soul of Hewlett-Packard

(Wiley)

C

Cannon, Angie, et al.

Twenty-three Days of Terror: The Compelling True Story of the Hunt and Capture of the Beltway Snipers

(Pocket Books)

* Cannon, Carl M.

The Pursuit of Happiness in Times of War

(Rowman & Littlefield)

* Cannon, Lou

Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power

(PublicAffairs)

* Chepesiuk, Ronald

The Bullet or the Bribe: Taking Down Colombia's Cali Drug Cartel

(Praeger)

* Cohen, Stanley

The Wrong Men: America's Epidemic of Wrongful Death-Row Convictions

(Carroll & Graf)

* Combs, Stephen, and John Eckberg

Road Dog

(Mickler's Books)

* Conason, Joe

Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth

(St. Martin's)

* Corn, David

The lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception

(Crown)

*Corwin, Miles

Homicide Special: On the Streets With the LAPD's Elite Detective Unit

(Holt)

* Coyne, Kevin

Marching Home:To War and Back With the Men of One American Town

(Viking)

* Crile, George

Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History -the Arming of the Mujahideen

(Atlantic Monthly Press)

* Critser,Greg

Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World

(Houghton Mifflin)

D

* Davis, Joyce M.

Martyrs: Innocence, Vengeance and Despair in the Middle East

(Palgrave Macmillan)

* Delsohn,Gary

The Prosecutors: A Year in the Life of a District Attorney

(Dutton)

*Deutschman,Alan

ATale of Two Valleys: Wine, Wealth, and the Battle for the Good Life in Napa and Sonoma

(Random House)

* Dracos,Ted

Ungodly: The Passions,Torments and Murder of Atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair

(Free Press)

* Dubose, Louis, Jan Reid and Carl Cannon

Boy Genius: Karl Rove, the Brains Behind the Remarkable Political Triumph of George W. Bush

(PublicAffairs)

* Duke, Lynne

Mandela, Mobutu and Me

(Doubleday)

E

* Easterbrook,Gregg

The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse

(Random House)

* Edds, Margaret

An Expendable Man: The NearExecution of Earl Washington Jr.

(New York University Press)

F

* FialkaJohnJ.

Sisters: Catholic Nuns and the Making of America

(St. Martin's)

* Fishkoff,Sue

The Rebbe's Army: Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch

(Schocken)

* Flanagan, William G.

Dirty Rotten CEOs: How Business Leaders Are Fleecing America

(Citadel)

* Fleeman, Michael

The Stranger in My Bed

(St. Martin's)

* Fox, Loren

Enron

(Wiley)

* Fromson, Brett

Hitting the Jackpot:The Inside Story of the Richest Indian Tribe in History

(Atlantic Monthly Press)

G

* Gantenbein, Douglas

A Season of Fire: Four Months on the Firelines of America's Forests

(Putnam/Tarcher)

* Garrels,Anne

Naked in Baghdad:The Iraq War as seen by NPR's Correspondent