You Didn’t Hear This From Me

"You Didn’t Hear This From Me, a mix of cultural criticism, modern history, and personal memoir, breaks down the differences between harmless rumors and outright lies in order to show the important role gossip plays in human connection."

"A whirlwind inquiry into one of society's oldest practices. McKinney writes about gossip with an intellectual rigor that borders on reverence." 

"An entertaining investigation of a hardwired human habit. You Didn’t Hear This From Me raises thoughtful questions about an under-examined topic, and offers some delights and epiphanies along the way."

 

"McKinney uses part memoir, part cultural criticism to unpack the nuances of modern storytelling and how gossip has evolved from a simple secret between friends to a social and cultural phenomenon...as the resident gossip expert, no one is more equipped to handle the trickiest aspects of gab, even when gossip just might be the villain of the story."

"[McKinney] swallows up all these disparate categories of story - rumor, conspiracy, legend - and cleverly digests them...By the time you finish this book, you will have traveled in so many strange and enriching directions."

"You Didn’t Hear This From Me touches on everything from the historical concept of gossip as a sin to the “Shitty Media Men List” and the effect of the COVID pandemic on information-sharing, all in the effusive yet thoughtful voice that Normal Gossip fans are sure to recognize from McKinney’s time with the podcast."

"If gossip is so bad, why have humans always done it, and what are the ways in which it actually binds communities together? You Didn’t Hear This From Me explores these questions through the lens of our social media, celebrity-obsessed culture with the same wit and candor that make McKinney’s podcast so popular."

"Smart and funny, it will find fans beyond [McKinney's] many listeners."

 

"In a tone at once scholarly-adjacent and extremely chatty, [McKinney] spools out both personal stories and research about gossip’s role in society as a whole.Smart, discussable, and extremely funny—I laughed out loud multiple times while reading."

"[Kelsey] writes with the same joy that she shares gossip, making it fun and exciting, all while reminding us that storytelling is a craft that you have to master in order to succeed at both pursuits. There's no one else I'd rather see grapple with the moral gray areas of gossip, and Kelsey does an excellent job here."

"McKinney’s fans are sure to be just as obsessed with You Didn’t Hear This From Me as they are with the “Normal Gossip” podcast … Her voice is smart and funny, and her arguments for considering gossip valuable and meaningful are compelling and clearly heartfelt."

"From novelist and host of the popular podcast Normal Gossip comes a study of gossip—but one that never forgets the joys of it. As someone who has long refused the notion that gossip is bad (just look at all the benefits!), I am looking forward to being further vindicated, not to mention delighted, and entertained." 

"Sharp, incisive….McKinney provides meticulous research and offers some genuine insights in her attempt to elevate gossip to a worthy subject of study”

"McKinney takes a thoughtful and sharply written look at gossip and its role in shaping power, safety, and truth. With a blend of research and anecdote, You Didn't Hear This From Me is a robust consideration of an often-maligned topic." 

“Gossip is the only cultural tradition I care about, and Kelsey McKinney has written its Bible. I cannot wait to gossip about this book with everyone I know for the rest of my life. KELSEY IS THE REAL GOSSIP GIRL XOXO”
 

“A beautiful, expansive ode to the joy of information exchange. An ode that, like the practice of gossip itself, can be all at once inviting, tender, enlivening, and rich with humor, complexity, and an abundance of joys.”

“Come for Kelsey McKinney’s alluring voice, stay for her brilliant insights about words, secrets, gender, shame, pop culture, and technology. McKinney is not only our generation’s most beloved raconteuse, she is a rigorous and deeply thoughtful writer who can quote Emily Dickinson and Doja Cat on the same page and make a reader feel both delighted and challenged to come along for the ride. You Didn't Hear This From Me is cogent and sharp, and I will be whispering around town about it for a long time.” 

“YOU DIDN’T HEAR THIS FROM ME cements Kelsey McKinney’s status as one of the greatest storytellers of our time. She dishes out secrets, tidbits, fables, and epics with the wisdom of an edler and the zeal of someone who was there when it all went down.* Although McKinney grew up believing that gossip was a sin, she reveals how gossip may also bea form of prayer – reminding us of our imperfect humanity and helping us search for the truth. This book sparkles from start to finish and ends with a blind item so juicy you’ll need to put it down and text your best friend.
 
*(If anyone could have teleported to 2100 B.C.E. to ask Gilgamesh if he really smooched his best bro, it would be Kelsey. And conversely, if Kelsey were born around 2100 B.C.E., she would have absolutely inscribed gossip in tablets that people would still be fighting over today—this is her impact.)" 
 

"Incisive and vulnerable, gentle yet uncompromising, McKinney stakes a place among the best cultural critics of the age, without ever losing her sense of fun. I loved this book."

"I tore through this like I was sprinting for gold at the Olympic games. I can't remember the last time I read a collection that made me wonder, deeply, about the bonds of friendship, social sciences, and the Real Housewives all in the span of a single page. True dynamite when it comes to examining the ways we yearn to yap while also remaining funny as hell; a remarkably potent combination. Nobody is cooler right now than Kelsey McKinney. This book stuns."

“I devoured this book like it was a series of 4-minute voice memos about someone Kelsey and I vaguely know. Her meditations gossip -- sometimes a powerful force for good, sometimes a sign of a diseased culture -- are, like the best gossip, so fun. RIP to the man killed by a walnut.”