Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Dec 2008
464 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
If Rupert Murdoch isn’t making headlines, he’s busy buying the media outlets that generate the headlines. His News Corp. holdings—from the New York Post, Fox News, and most recently The Wall Street Journal, to name just a few—are vast, and his power is unrivaled. So what makes a man like this tick? Michael Wolff gives us the definitive answer in The Man Who Owns the News.
With unprecedented access to Rupert Murdoch himself, and his associates and family, Wolff chronicles the astonishing growth of Murdoch's $70 billion media kingdom. In intimate detail, he probes the Murdoch family dynasty, from the battles that have threatened to destroy it to the reconciliations that seem to only make it stronger. Drawing upon hundreds of hours of interviews, he offers accounts of the Dow Jones takeover as well as plays for Yahoo! and Newsday as they’ve never been revealed before.
Written in the irresistible stye that only an award-winning columnist for Vanity Fair can deliver, The Man Who Owns the News offers an exclusive glimpse into a man who wields extraordinary power and influence in the media on a worldwide scale—and whose family is being groomed to carry his legacy into the future.
"... with the mumbling man who owns the news playing taciturn or anally retentive, his semi-official quasi-biographer is left to scavenge for headlines elsewhere, tapping up children and colleagues." - The Guardian (UK).
"Wolff often writes with an elbows-out attitude. The book has a gossipy and pugnacious style that includes a fair amount of gratuitous name calling ... Still, it's an insightful and provocative book." - Newsday.
"For British readers, the book could have benefited from a proof-read by one of the many UK sources Wolff interviewed. But these are quibbles. It's an enthralling tale about one of the most powerful men in the world, who turns out to be human after all." - The Independent.
"Wolff also shrewdly paints Murdoch's greatest strength not as his mastery of any of his businesses -- including his beloved newspapers --but of human weakness." - Los Angeles Times.
"According to Michael Wolff's supercilious yet star-struck portrait of Rupert Murdoch, the planet's most notorious press baron has a crude, simple, primordial idea of a good time ... Mr. Wolff gets as close as he can to all this. But his nose remains pressed against the glass." - New York Times.
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Michael Wolff is a columnist for Vanity Fair and two-time National Magazine Award winner. He is the author of four other books, including Autumn of the Moguls and Burn Rate. He lives in New York City.
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