Legacy of Wisdom: Great Thinkers and Journalism introduces the reader to the ideas of more than 30 great philosophers, writers, and intellectuals - from Confucius and Plato, to Machiavelli and Kant, to Simone de Beauvoir and Sissela Bok - and the ways their ethical systems apply to journalism and journalists today. Author John C.

Merrill provides brief sketches of each thinker as "intellectual springboards" for journalists and journalism students seeking motivation and ethical guidance in their professional lives.

Legacy of Wisdom explores the variety of ways that the philosophies of some of history's great thinkers apply to such timeless debates and subjects as press freedom and responsibility; the nature of objectivity and truth; the journalist's use of power; duty and the journalist; language use, style, and propaganda; and the complex relationship between mass media and society.

Merrill's book is a valuable primer for the reader's entry into the world of the great thinkers and journalism. He includes a helpful glossary of philosophical terms.