Tickle the public (1996)

A century of the British popular press, written for the hundredth anniversary of the Daily Mail's launch in 1896 but far from a birthday tribute. Engel argues that almost nothing in the early Mail was original, looks back to the Telegraph for techniques it borrowed, and pokes holes in its first sales boasts. Funny, sharp and full of Fleet Street characters, it is the book to read if you want to understand why British tabloids sound the way they do.