CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Truth and Duty

Open-knowledge reference entry

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 2, 2026
Entity authorityQ130472022 ↗
Source-derived summary

Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power is a 2005 non-fiction book by Mary Mapes, published by St. Martin's Press.

It is her account of her time at CBS News during the Iraq War and a series of events which resulted in her losing her job. She had covered the Abu Ghraib scandal. She also had produced a program on President of the United States George W. Bush's record in military service, but it was revealed that the program relied on forged documents in what is known as the Killian documents controversy.

Reception

Jonathan Alter in The New York Times described the book as "high-spirited, if overwrought and self-serving".

Dave Denison of the Texas Observer wrote that the book appears like it is "conducting a kind of public therapy" to deal with Mapes' feelings, and then in the final 33% it becomes "a surprisingly compelling brief." Denison stated that people who are involved in politics and journalism covering politics will find the book useful.

Release

James Vanderbilt received a copy of the work with a personal message from Mapes.

Adaptations

The film Truth is based on the memoir.

References

External links

Truth and Duty - Macmillan Publishers

Mapes, Mary (November 8, 2005).

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Truth and Duty” as open-knowledge reference entry. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Truth, Duty and Open-knowledge.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2005—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2005. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Truth, Duty and Open-knowledge providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Truth and Duty”, the useful work is to connect “open-knowledge reference entry” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q130472022. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2005.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Truth and Duty”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Truth and Duty primary sources, Truth and Duty archive and Truth research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Truth and Duty”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Truth and Duty” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.