Gossip is one of the most common, and most condemned, forms of discourse in which we engage - even as it is often absorbing and socially significant, it is also widely denigrated. This volume examines fascinating moments in the history of gossip in America, from witchcraft trials to People magazine, helping us to see the subject with new eyes.

Christine Eisel, Bowling Green State University, USA Mary Beth Norton, Cornell University; USA Virginia Price, Historic American Buildings Survey, National Park Service, USA Nancy Isenberg, Louisiana State University, USA Erica L. Ball, California State University, Fullerton, USA Samantha Barbas, University of Buffalo, USA Molly M. Wood, Wittenberg University, USA Mary Desjardins, Dartmouth College, USA Kimberly Wilmot Voss, University of Central Florida, USA Andrea Friedman, Washington University, St. Louis, USA Anne Helen Petersen, Whitman College, USA Tim Seiber, University of Redlands, USA