No newspaper columnist of the post-World War II period was more widely known than Joseph Wright Alsop, who, with his younger brother Stewart, wrote a thrice-weekly column for the New York Herald Tribune syndicate from early 1946 until 1958. During this period the craft of newspaper commentary reached the pinnacle of its influence, and the Alsops, widely read by government officials, opinion leaders, and the public, helped shape the policies of the Cold War period.

Drawing on his personal acquaintance with Joe Alsop and on manuscript sources and the reminiscences of family, friends, and associates, noted columnist Edwin Yoder chronicles a colorful and vital era in Washington journalism. He frames the story of the Alsops' partnership within the turbulent 1950s and examines the effect of their family heritage (they were related to the Roosevelts) on their reporting.

The Alsop brothers, Yoder shows, were not only ultimate Washington insiders but diligent and imaginative reporters who relied on a vast network of sources for news that no one else reported. He combines the story of these two brilliant columnists with the story of a pivotal era in the life of the nation.