- Published: 17 October 2019
- ISBN: 9781405938341
- Imprint: Michael Joseph
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 400
- RRP: $24.99
Airhead
The Imperfect Art of Making News
- Published: 17 October 2019
- ISBN: 9781405938341
- Imprint: Michael Joseph
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 400
- RRP: $24.99
Smart, funny and brilliantly told stories about what goes on behind the scenes of television news. A joy
Elizabeth Day
Revelatory, riveting and frequently hilarious. A joy from beginning to end
James O'Brien
The irony of this riveting, enlightening and sometimes painfully honest book is that you couldn't meet less of an airhead than Emily Maitlis - a bold, fearless journalist, a splendidly probing and well-prepared interlocutor, and a warm, sharp and witty woman at the top of her game on and off camera. I'm just very disappointed there's only one chapter about me
Piers Morgan
A remarkable journey through the jungle of newsmaking. It combines razor-sharp analysis with compelling narrative drive and wit. A must-read
Matthew d'Ancona, Guardian and Evening Standard columnist
A wonderfully sane book for our unhinged times
Simon Schama
Emily has a style that would make you enjoy her report on the end of the world. Absolutely irresistible
Jeremy Vine
She is a superb writer, used to throwing together pacy, engaging scripts at a second's notice. Each chapter is dedicated to one of her interviews - it is a sort of greatest-hits compilation
The Sunday Times
Airhead is, like its author, funny, wise, self-deprecating and insightful
You Magazine
Maitlis has written a deliciously funny book about the high-wire act of broadcasting and the madness that surrounds it. Lots of famous presenters have written books but Maitlis' is different . . . Irresistible. She sounds great company . . . Her book's a romp
The Times
Maitlis paints a vivid picture of the intensity and unpredictability that come with her assignments, which punctures the perceived glamour of life reporting the news . . . Her writing is excellent: precise, economical and accessible
Guardian
[Emily] is so absolutely of the moment, a quasi-memoir could not be better timed. Airhead is a compilation of her greatest hits. And boy are there many . . . narrated in her snappy, chatty style . . . her asides are acerbic, her observations hilarious
Evening Standard
Not an autobiography but a serious book about journalism, disguised in anecdotal chapters about her encounters with the great and the good and the rather awful . . . leads the reader towards a deeper understanding of an essential part of our culture: current affairs . . . this is a book that engages at every level
Daily Mail
A behind-the-scenes look at how news gets made
Observer
She offers insights into everyone from Donald Trump to Simon Cowell, showing them not just as what they represent, but as individuals with flaws and charm
The Press and Journal
Smart and Broadcast News-funny, Airhead is peppered with insider anecdotes you could only pick up working on the kind of big news stories that the journalist has covered for decades
Daily Telegraph
She lifts the veil on the inner workings of the BBC, as she reflects on her long career as a journalist
Radio Times
One of the best we've read this year . . . This insightful, hilarious and engrossing memoir from one of our most well-liked TV broadcasters takes you behind the scenes of the biggest news stories in recent years
SheerLuxe, 15 Best Beach Reads of 2019
Fascinating . . . [an] excellent book
Mail on Sunday
Recounts, one guest per chapter, a number of her interviews with the boldest of boldface figures . . . Entertaining
Strong Words
A quick, absorbing read . . . my overriding impression is of rather breathless thoughtfulness . . . her formidable intelligence and self-deprecating awareness shine brightly
Times Higher Education
We love the Maitlis
Stylist
Emily Maitlis is a particular hero of mine . . . I know I'm in for a treat with Airhead
Gaby Huddart, Editor-in-chief, Good Housekeeping
An irreverent and amusing account of her media career
The Times, 100 Best Books for Summer
Emily Maitlis is one of my favourite interviewers and I want to read her tales of interviewing people such as Donald Trump, Theresa May and Simon Cowell
Catriona Shearer, Sunday Mail
A fascinating behind-the-scenes insight into modern television news
Time & Leisure Magazine
It's a brilliant, often funny, behind-the-scenes account of her working life, written by one of Britain's best television broadcasters. It proves she's far from an airhead!
John Craven
A deliciously funny behind-the-scenes take on broadcasting and her encounters with politicians and celebrities
i
She recounts the interviews of her career, from the great, the good and the questionable, offering insights into the questions that illuminated their characters and the ones they dodged. A chapter on being the target of a stalker reveals her more vulnerable side in this compelling book
Observer
A light and easy read but a thought-provoking one
The Times
Anyone who has spent this election campaign shouting at the TV needs a copy of Emily Maitlis's Airhead in their Christmas stocking. It's funny and subtly smart, taking the reader behind the camera
Guardian, Best Politics Books of 2019
Behind-the-scenes accounts of her famous encounters, including those with Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and the Dalai Lama, among many others
Daily Mail Books of the Year
She gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at some of the most engaging interviews she's conducted in recent years - with all the wrangling, arguing, pleading and last-minute script writing they involved. Insightful, funny and engrossing, we love it.
SheerLuxe
A fascinating and brilliantly evocative ringside seat at some of the most notable interviews she's done
Radio Times
We're obsessed with Emily Maitlis in this house
Nick Grimshaw
Vividly demonstrates her drive to report
Tatler Magazine
Maitlis writes brilliantly
Tatler