"Are 'Foreign Correspondents' an endangered species? Not for Mort Rosenblum, who writes an informative and witty book for young professionals and those interested in the wider world. He broadens "Old Media's" pool and offers important guidance to anyone who wants to plunge into international reporting." ~ Deborah Amos, National Public Radio "A rare blend of great storytell ing and pure wisdom, Little Bunch of Madmen is the best thing yet written about the state of modern journalism by one of its few true living masters, and every reporter working today should go out and buy it and read it." ~ Jon Lee Anderson, staff writer, The New Yorker Order Now Official Site

Happy Madmen News. And Thanks.

This is to thank you for a stunning response. In the 12 hours following my last blast, Little Bunch of Madmen rocketed up Amazon's chart from 1,400,000 to 722 and topped media/journalism. A marketer would say, "Hah! Instant bestseller." A madman would say, "Yeah? Recheck tomorrow."

If you're considering the book, please act now. It was timed so those of us who teach will have it by the end of August, and schools are ordering in bulk. One reseller bought 100 copies. We need to know whether to go back to press before the first run is finished to meet this demand.

We'll keep printing as long as anyone finds it useful, adding in new developments and case studies. Between editions, I'll update www.bunchofmadmen.com with fresh material, discussion guides, and lesson plans.

I'm jazzed because of what this response so clearly demonstrates. People in huge numbers, across the planet, realize the danger of trying to fathom today's world by long-distance guesswork. We need real reporters. We need trustworthy "media," whether old or not, mainstream or not, on paper or in the ether. What matters is the message.

Buyers seem equally divided between journalists who want the inside baseball and people who want more reliable sources for their global news.

Please tell your friends; we are depending on cyber-style word of mouth. Remember the young people in your circle who could use a nudge toward critical thinking.

One of you called the title sexist. It's a quote from back when men dominated. Gender is now beside the point. Characters in the book are balanced and not by any plan. Alison Smale, for one, is most of one chapter. Elizabeth Neuffer is a model madman who did not make it out.

For those who kindly wished I'd make a fortune, hold that thought for when I get back to eating and ragging on France. This one is for the Little Bunch in the dedication: "...the old gang, the new guard, and so many who made it in but not out."

Profits will go into Reporting Unlimited projects to help correspondents get in close to a story, understand it and report it, and then get back out safely. We are eager to pool resources and exchange ideas with others working to strengthen reporting across borders.

Among the generous words colleagues used in passing my blast on to others, an old friend, an Indian, wrote: "but more importantly he has a great sense of drama and detail."

That is at the heart of Little Bunch of Madmen. People care about "foreign news" when they realize how it touches them, on a grand scale and in up-close personal detail. Without that element, "news" is just a stream of words and pictures that, inevitably and invariably, mislead.

Again, my thanks,

Mort