"Kirby, a journalist and lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London, brings serious analysis to these light publications, noting that the public has long had an appetite for lurid news. . . . A largely enjoyable and enlightening story—for journalists, of course, but also for anyone who wants to understand better the intricate relationship between newspapers and their rapt readers."

The Economist

"The average Observer reader might be unfamiliar with contemporary tabloid newspapers, but in this informative . . . survey of that subsection of journalism, Kirby studies everyone from Daniel Defoe to Rupert Murdoch, ruthlessly dissecting their venality and opportunism. He also, in the interests of balance, salutes them when they dared to do something their competition would have balked at. . . . Few will end this book thinking better of tabloids, but it’s sometimes hard not to admire their—and their proprietors’—chutzpah."

Observer

"A history of tabloid journalism through which booze swills like blood through an abattoir. . . . A book that, while being breezy as it ought to be, keeps a weather eye on the moral wreckage the red-tops have wreaked."

The Oldie

“Kirby offers a factual but rip-roaring narrative of press barons, booming circulations and bloody-minded journalists.”

Times Literary Supplement

“Kirby charts a chronological route through three centuries of journalism history by suggesting that the earliest newspapers shared the same craving for popularity. His is a journalist’s approach to tabloid journalism, organised around key movements. . . . Think of a significant figure in popular newspapers, and they will feature in The Newsmongers, as do key events in tabloid legend. . . . With his focus on secondary sources, the greatest utility of Kirby’s contribution is the extent to which it brings together the leading cast of those involved in three centuries of ‘tabloid’ journalism in a chronological order. Given that it is a cast of epic proportions, that is no mean feat.”

History Today

"A broadsheet journalist’s account of tabloid journalism. It focuses on the narrative of the story, keeps the who-what-when-why-how front and centre, has many central villains, and few heroes. One thing that is abundantly clear by the time you reach the end of the book is that British tabloid journalism bears no relation to the news and has two primary aims: making money and wielding political power. . . . Kirby’s account is raw and pacy."

Morning Star

"Kirby doesn't avoid the shameful episodes . . . but nor is the book a hatchet job. It is a balanced look at a phenomenon probably now in its twilight years, at least in print form. . . . The Newsmongers is at its strongest when covering the ceaseless innovation that characterised tabloids throughout much of the twentieth century. . . . Kirby's book is an entertaining read, or as a tabloid might put it, a sensational soaraway success."

Critic

"Kirby traces the decline of a format that has its origins in the sensationalist pamphlets of the seventeenth century."

iNews

"Kirby brings us the history of one of the most infamous British institutions, tabloid journalism. . . . The Newsmongers is an essential read for anyone wanting to understand how our media is the way it is, and in the state it is."

History with Jackson

“The Newsmongers is a thoroughly researched and well-crafted history of tabloid journalism from the sixteenth century right through to the click-bait journalism of our own era.”

Irish Examiner

“The Newsmongers is a must-read for anyone interested in the state of the press and how we got here.”

Byline Times

"Kirby in his new book, The Newsmongers, describes the vitally important role of the tabloid newspapers to communicate. What constitutes a good, tabloid newspaper are popular stories written in a simple style which are easily read. And with an element of humour and plenty of photographs.”

BBC Radio Cymru

"Tabloid journalism has had a colorful, gaudy history of sowing the seeds of the untrustworthy, harmful information that pervades the internet. . . . A worthy read for people interested in the role sensationalized news media plays on public life and discourse."

Library Journal

"A fabulous, detailed and hugely entertaining account of tabloid journalism, starting from the first cave paintings to the more recent abuses of privacy by some of our most popular newspapers. Kirby reveals how a tabloid sensibility has always been a part of our media landscape and is likely to continue well into the digital age. The book confronts the moguls, editors, headlines, and scandals that have dominated tabloid life in the search for influence, notoriety, and profits. A must-read for anyone who wants to understand the role of tabloids in British society."

Des Freedman, professor of media and communications, Goldsmiths, University of London

"Tabloids were founded to inform and entertain, and this history manages to do both. Descriptive and largely uncritical, Kirby does something very few of the editors whose work he analyses would ever allow. He lets the facts speak for themselves."

Roy Greenslade, former editor, media commentator, and professor of journalism

"Like its subject, this book is not only accessible and entertaining, but a detailed, critical and authoritative history of a vital and controversial part of our culture and politics. At the very moment when newspapers are most challenged, The Newsmongers reminds us that journalism is always changing and that the popular press is often the most innovative."

Charlie Beckett, founding director of Polis and professor in the Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics

"A first-class book from a first-class journalist. Kirby tells a highly readable story that whisks us from the age of deference by way of scandal, sleaze and sensation to the era of clickbait, the Kardashians and rampant criminality. The Newsmongers presents a more than timely insight into the most powerful political force in the United Kingdom today: the tabloid press."

Brian Cathcart, former professor of journalism at Kingston University and a former director of Hacked Off