“The Drudge Revolution” by Matthew Lysiak follows the story of Matt Drudge as he utilizes the growing internet landscape to share news and information on his own terms.

Despite my entire lack of interest in reading or talking about politics, this book was vastly interesting. From a communications perspective, the internet is still a growing and thriving beast, so to watch a media site from the early stages of the internet to now was fascinating, especially when we consider the echo chamber that most sites have now become.

This book really brings home those questions of “how do we get the news?” or “who do we trust to tell us the news?” More and more we see that no source is truly impartial, so who do we listen to? Many people would argue that you need to find sites that align with your values, but then do you ever really see a full picture?

In the end, I felt like this book was interesting and made me think. While I won’t likely change my news habits, I do think that this book sheds light on how wrapped in our own views we tend to become. I gave this book 4 stars!

Thanks to NetGalley and BenBella Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Knowing who Matt Drude is but not knowing anything about him, I was curious about this book. It was a quick read and though it likely was hindered by the dearth of details on Drudge's personal life, the snippets and vignettes relayed in the book provided a curious portrait of an important player in our society's current search for information and all that goes with it (truth, accuracy, speed, etc.).

Interesting book on Matt Drudge and the revolution he brought to news reporting. It's not clear if the revolution was good or bad and the author does not make any judgments.

Not very good at giving ratings to nonfiction books but I liked it! All nonfiction books are a little slow for me but the points Lysiak made were interesting!

The Drudge Revolution is a fascinating well- written story of the rise of an awkward maverick journalist and the parallel story of the fall of network news and the internet revolution. Drudge was a maverick journalist who discovered early on in the infancy of the internet that it allowed ordinarily folks to read news unfiltered by corporate editors who controlled what stories got out there. Starting out by penning a gossipy newsletter to a handful of listserv recipients, Drudge eventually came to fame breaking the Clinton Lewinsky scandal. But his real importance is seeing how the exchange of information over the internet would flip the news business, both print and tv, on its head. No longer dependent on national editors, for better or worse, unfiltered news was now available to the masses and no single corporate entity could control it. Eventually, the story is that Drudge and other bloggers were overtaken by the speed of the twitterverse as news and rumors spread faster than the speed of light. Surprisingly well-written, this book, written without input from Drudge himself, is quite compelling.

This book was OK. I like reading the Drudge report sometimes, but I'm not a superfan. I think this book would be better for someone who was much more interested in the history. I thought it would be more engaging. The background and writing are interesting, but not compelling.

I received a free ARC as a reviewer for NetGalley.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author Matthew Lysiak and publisher BenBella Books for the review copy. I'm especially interested in the story of Drudge, a person who's been at the forefront of a media disruption.

Revolution reports on the rise, and uhm, sameness of one of the Internet's simplest websites: thedrudgereport.com. Lysiak also gets into the history of the Internet, the Clinton administration, and the turn of the millennium itself. It may be a bit much with some of the tangents, but there were some worthwhile diversions (like the Internet's beginnings).

The chapters are short. Super short. Shorter than most publishers would like I'm sure - but does have the effect moving the story along quicker. For Example, In chapter 27 - "Campaign for Trump" - Lysiak talks about Drudge's connection to Trump and his affinity to him, but nothing else beyond actually going to a rally. I think this and perhaps other chapters could be better named or maybe fleshed out a bit more.

The lack of real sources here (including the man himself) should be troubling to some, but at least there's a basic narrative and the idea is worth looking into. How did Matt Drudge gain so much influence while being so reclusive?

The Drudge Revolution is expect to drive late July 2020

A really interesting look at media and the rise (and fall) of Internet news agents. Being an occasional reader of Drudge, I found this to be a fascinating insight. And what more perfect timing to read this than during a monumental election year.

Well, hard to say how I feel about the authenticity of The Drudge Revolution. I have a book that Drudge actually wrote about himself, Drudge Manifesto. So I know an awfully lot and many things I already knew about him. It's hard to trust what is actually true (though even the subject could lie to an author).
Rush Limbaugh was established prior to Drudge. I'd argue that point there.

If Drudge was a fan of Trump, he certainly is no longer a fan.

This was a very interesting read, and for that I give it five stars. I just am not apt to believe everything.

Matt Drudge is a strange phenomenon onecday he seemed to pop up on the internet.Drudge was a sight that had all the gossip all the scoops.I was absolutely addicted to it.Really had no idea who Drudge was just that she seemed to know everything in the world of politics ,Hollywood first.
Really found the info on his life his childhood on to his connections with Brietbart Bannon and others,A really well written look at the Drudge Report and it’s creator.#netgalley#benbellabooks

An interesting look into the phenomenon that is the Drudge Report. I remember the early days of the internet, and of the Drudge Report. How the proprietor of it, Matt Drudge, was always managing to "scoop" the major networks in breaking news. And of the unique format of his news page, that being no actual stories, but just links to other's reporting and stories. It was all quite fascinating, and seemed to be a radical step in news coverage.
Then along came President Clinton, and the Monica Lewinsky story. Drudge seemed to be always in the know, and one step ahead of all the other media. One might even say that Drudge is responsible for the whole sordid affair being exposed.
The author traces the background and history of both Matt Drudge and his Drudge Report. Although, after reading the book, you come to realize that both entities are really one and the same, and cannot be separated.
Famously reclusive, Drudge does not participate at all in the book. In fact, you have to come to the conclusion that there is actually something rather off about Drudge. If not for his finding his niche in developing the news page, I can imagine him being one of those malcontents that you see on the park bench, raving at imaginary ghosts and demons. Even without his participation, the author does an amazing job of ferreting out information. You're left with a very good picture of Drudge, and of what makes him tick.
Lysiak's reporting on the actual Report is also very good. He traces what it came from, how it got to where it is today, the people who had a hand in the Report daily, and of where it may be going in the future.
The author also explains how Matt Drudge may be the main reason Trump was elected. How his teaming with Trump advisors tipped the scale in favor of Trump. Drudge was responsible for Breitbart, Bannon, Limbaugh (to a large extent), and even helping Fox News.
And the author explains how Drudge may not even be that much of a conservative. His background and personality certainly don't seem to fit with the conservative movement. No, his overriding purpose in life seems to be poking people in the eye. And, in his eyes, who better than what he feels is the "long-standing" liberal stranglehold on information".
An excellent book.

The Drudge Revolution by Matthew Lysiak is a wonderful telling not only tracing the life of Matt Drudge from early school years until present. The author was unable to interview Matt but pieced together a great narrative. The main take away is the extent to which Matt drove the internet into taking over the reins from the old traditional newspapers. It also was the beginnings of an early crowdsourcing endeavor although initially it was all Matt aggregating news from all sources.
Those old enough will remember the early days of checking the site frequently to see what he had come up with.
This is a book everyone should read.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

I received this ARC from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Anyone who follows the news knows of The Drudge Report, but only a fraction know much about Matt Drudge himself. This book does a deep dive into Drudge, the inception of The Drudge Report, and its impact on the media, journalism, and politics. I thought the author did a thorough job researching Drudge and thought I knew quite a bit about The Drudge Report found I learned a lot. I would have given it four stars, but ended up dropping a star because I didn’t love the writing style and felt like the book was more disorganized than I could enjoy.

This is a wonderful book about a little known or understood subject. This book is sure to revive interest in the subject manyfold.