From the publisher’s description:
Explores the nature, morality, and aesthetics of gossip; examines gossip in history and the psychology of gossip; and analyzes gossip-as subject and literary technique-in plays, letters, biographies, and novels.
Spacks, Patricia Meyer (Trustee; NHC Fellow, 1982–83; 1988–89). Gossip. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985. ISBN 0394540247.