Before there was the National Enquirer and TMZ.com, there was Confidential, the pioneering gossip magazine of the 1950s. Historian Barbas (Movie Crazy: Fans, Stars, and the Cult of Celebrity) delves behind the scenes of the publication developed by Robert Harrison, purveyor of men's "girlie magazines," to detail its blend of racy photos, celebrity exposés, and garish artwork that made it become, for a short time, more widely read than Reader's Digest and The Saturday Evening Post. Despite the conservative values and repressive sexual mores of the day, readers relished the scintillating stories—many of which twisted the truth or were fabricated outright. Robert Mitchum, Marilyn Monroe, and Marlene Dietrich were among the Hollywood stars whose personal lives were laid bare by the tipsters, private eyes, and reporters on Harrison's payroll. Articles revealed celebrities' extramarital affairs and outed homosexuals, often defaming individuals and destroying families, much in the same way that Sen. Joseph McCarthy's anti-Communist crusade wrecked so many lives. VERDICT Popular culture enthusiasts and media studies students will appreciate how this well-documented tale resonates in today's climate of celebrity scandal and Orwellian politics.—Donna Marie Smith, Palm Beach Cty. Lib. Syst., FL