The start of fall has us thinking back to school days ... and itching to assign a little homework in the form of the latest PR books to hit our desks. These run the gamut from
a fascinating personal look at the man many consider the "father of PR," to savvy, strategic input on communicating and managing reputation.
How to Manage Your Global Reputation: A Guide to the Dynamics of International Public Relations.
Michael Morley.
This revised and updated second edition offers case studies on the best - and the worst - in reputation management for a global organization. Morely advises readers to think
locally to understand the cultures and opinions of various global audiences and covers everything from organizational infrastructure to the use of the Web for global
communications to crisis management on a global scale.
Published by New York University Press; $11.87 on Amazon
Public Relations on the Net, Second Edition.
Shel Holtz.
The online PR bible - just four years old - enters its second edition. "In Web years," Holtz writes in the preface, "four years is an eternity." When Holtz wrote the first
edition, he devoted many pages to covering the very fundamentals of online PR: email, discussion groups and other concepts "a frightening number of professionals" didn't grasp in
1998. In this edition, those basics have been moved to appendices, and a variety of new research has been incorporated.
The 400+ pages of this tome include an exhaustive glossary and index. Holtz examines how to use the Web to actively monitor the dialogue surrounding your organization, how to
"electrify" your online speaker bureau, how to manage e-communications around causes and issues, and more.
Published by American Management Association, $17.47 on Amazon; special discounts available through the association on bulk quantities
The Father of Spin.
Larry Tye.
This fascinating inside look at the life and work of Edward Bernays uncovers the roots of the PR profession in campaigns that changed the way Americans think. Ironically, the
preface focuses on a Hill and Knowlton campaign that "sold" Americans on the first war with Iraq more than a decade ago, and how it can be traced to the PR machinations Bernays
pioneered in a campaign against Guatemala's socialist leader 40 years earlier. Bernays, Sigmund Freud's nephew, is every bit as compelling a character as his infamous uncle, and
his trailblazing work should be of interest to any PR devotee.
Published by Henry Holt & Co.; $11.20 on Amazon