"Talk radio is one of America's most popular and influential media formats. In his book, Shock Jocks: Hate Speech and Talk Radio, Rory O'Connor reports on the shocking number of top radio talk show hosts who regularly spout hate speech over our public airwaves. This intriguing, eye-opening and hugely important work is a must read account of the dangers of blurring opinion, journalism and entertainment -- at the expense of our democratic discourse and ideals."

-- Walter Cronkite, American broadcast journalist icon

"Rory O'Connor and Aaron Cutler, in this admirable example of whistleblowing, do for talk radio in our time what Upton Sinclair and George Seldes did for the press in their time. They expose, in devastating detail, how our hallowed right of free speech has been crippled by right wing domination of the air waves. They carefully analyze the phenomenon of talk radio -- its origins, its enormous power, its pretensions, its covert and overt agendas . But they also present alternatives that could restore some semblance of fairness to a marketplace of ideas so far dominated by corporate and military interests."

-- Howard Zinn, author

"There is too much talk -- imbecilic, often hateful talk -- on much of talk radio, as this provocative book demonstrates. O�Connor and Aaron Cutler deliver a lively, well deserved punch in the nose to these powerful bloviators. "

-- Ken Auletta, journalist and media expert

From the publisher:

Written by veteran media critic and Emmy winner Rory O'Connor, Shock Jocks features unsparing profiles of the ten worst conservative radio talkers in America, including Michael Savage, Bill O' Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Don Imus and the rest. Shock Jocks highlights the politicized and often factually challenged world of talk radio that dominates a sizable portion of America's airwaves, and shows how misogyny, racism, and utter contempt for other human beings is disguised as �free speech."

"Rory O'Connor is a noted media critic, documentary filmmaker, journalist, the president and cofounder of Globalvision, and the recipient of a George Polk Award, a Writer's Guild Award, a George Orwell Award, and two Emmys."