We believe that what follows may soon be considered the most remarkable event in world publishing history. It is the result of a previously unreported event in which Socrates of Athens, The Greatest of Greeks®, was channeled to Washington in June 1996 to conduct a critique of the Washington press corps.

Concern about press corps patterns and practices had grown throughout the 1990s. Lazy thinking and careless habits were producing increasingly vacuous work. A herd of rude and worthless reporters reminded onlookers of Penelope's suitors. Several critiques of their work were presented, but their habits lingered on as before.

At a critical stage in their group devolution, a remarkably bold new plan was conceived, in a manner described in some detail by Mr. Somerby, the author of SOCRATES READS. Socrates of Athens, The Greatest of Greeks, was channeled to Washington to critique the corps' work. Applying the simplest rules of thought, The Great Greek would create an an astonishing portrait of the work of the Washington press corps.

The depression that naturally accompanies such a task returned Socrates to Olympus in 1998. But in the meantime, he created what surely will stand throughout time as the greatest single press corps critique ever crafted--the astounding review of the Washington press corps we now publish as SOCRATES READS.

NOTE: With special thanks to Arianna Huffington for permitting use of her registered phrase "Greatest of Greeks."

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