Opening the Gates

A must-read for historians, Reid's study will also open up for general readers the atmosphere of a time so far in the past that it is forgotten, yet so near that history has yet to remember it. -William M. Reddy, Duke University Although I have been living in France for the past ten years, I regret to say that the Lip Affair was unknown to me until now, but having read Donald Reid's description of what transpired, I can understand why. It is simply stunning how the mass media arbitrarily select those events in society which they want to highlight, and those which they want to ignore 'in the interests of the viewer.' I am convinced that the 'gate-keeper' policy of the mass media is one of the primary reasons why the public in general today remain detached from many key issues facing the planet, including consumerism, social inequality, and the onrushing environmental disaster. The multiple issues still confronting women today are of course foremost in my mind when I write this. The ways in which the Lip workers-as Reid describes-confronted their problems, including their strategies in dealing with the media, are therefore truly inspiring, and this book clearly deserves the widest possible dissemination across the social and political spectrum. -Peter Watkins, Film Director