Neal Gabler

Walter Winchell was the man who legitimized gossip columns, tabloid news, and celebrity watching. He rose from a poor New York family to become one of the most read columnists, and eventually consulted with F.D.R. and Joe McCarthy. Writer Neal Gabler has written a biography about Winchell. "Winchell: Gossip, Power, and the Culture of Celebrity" helps explain the man who was the source of our current celebrity-obsessed culture.

The writer's new book, An Empire of Their Own, examines the long-neglected history of how a group of Jewish European emigrees created the screen's idea of the American Dream, and how America adopted that dream.