Acknowledgments; Chapter 1: Introduction: Some Loose Talk About Gossip; 1.1 What We Talk About When We Talk About Gossip; 1.2 A Gossip Agenda; Notes; Chapter 2: Gossip's Bad Reputation; 2.1 Gossip's Pre-History, or Grooming and Intimacy; 2.2 The Fall of Gossip; 2.3 Small Talk; 2.4 Slam Books or Malicious Gossip; 2.5 Mean Girls: The Gendering of Gossip; 2.6 What Is Left Unsaid; Notes; Chapter 3: The Word On the Street: Gossip's Contributions to Knowledge; 3.1 Gossip as Selection; 3.2 Gossip as Synthesis; 3.3 Evaluating Gossip as Knowledge

3.4 Epistemic Imagination and Subversion in GossipNotes; Chapter 4: Failure to Communicate: Gossip as Institutional Conflict; 4.1 Perestroika; 4.2 The Pluralist's Guide; 4.3 Institutional Responses and Invisible Gossip; 4.4 The Power of Invisible Gossip; Notes; Chapter 5: Rumors Help the Enemy! Gossip in Politics; 5.1 Gossip as Surprise: Gary Hart; 5.2 Gossip in Politics: The Long View; 5.3 Gossip in the 1980s: The Wide View; 5.4 Gossip at the Center: Bill Clinton; 5.5 Gossip as a Tool: Valerie Plame; 5.6 Gossip, Leaking, and Anonymous Sourcing: The Long and Wide View; 5.7 Conclusion; Notes

Chapter 6: Weaponized Gossip6.1 Compromised Intimacy, Compromised Gossip; 6.2 Closed Circles; 6.3 Gossip in Turbulent Times; 6.4 Shaming Gossip; 6.5 Conclusion; Notes; Chapter 7: Gossip in the Ether: How the Internet Does, and Doesn't, Change Gossip; 7.1 How Public Is My Digital Dirty Laundry?; 7.2 Who Are the Digital Gossips?; 7.3 How Concrete Is Digital Gossip?; 7.4 The Architecture of Virtual Talk; Notes; Chapter 8: Conclusion: Schools for Scandal; 8.1 How to Gossip; 8.2 The Social Context of Gossip; 8.3 Facilitating Good Gossip; Notes; Works Cited; Index