Tomorrow marks the release* of Kill the Messenger: The Media’s Role in the Fate of the World, a provocative new book by Armenian journalist and scholar Maria Armoudian (pictured). Along with being a doctoral candidate at USC, Armoudian hosts a KFPK radio program and freelances for major outlets.

Her Prometheus Books release takes an intricate look at the role played by the media in major international conflicts, with reporters sometimes helping (Ireland) and in other cases negatively fueling the rage and genocide (Rwanda, Bosnia). The five-part tome grew out of Armoudian’s research at USC.

Armoudian, who was also once an environmental commissioner for the city of LA, has got a forward by Tom Hayden and a bunch of impressive jacket blurbs from the likes of Jon Weiner (contributing editor, The Nation), fellow author Robert McChesney, and actor Ed Begley Jr. There’s also this endorsement from Michael Paradies Shoob, director of the documentary Bush’s Brain:

“Armoudian plunges in beyond the headlines and the mind-numbing television images and the celebrity pundits shouting at one another—what suffices for ‘mainstream journalism’ today… She has taken the media, the history, and the culture of these countries and woven it all into a cautionary tale that one won’t soon forget.”

*The street date has been pushed back to August 23.