MURDOCH: REVISED AND UPDATED
Author: William Shawcross
List Price: $16.00
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0684830159
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (02 July, 1997)
Sales Rank: 41,508
Average Customer Rating: 4.36 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 4 out of 5
A good, fairly unbiased biography, of a powerful media mogul
Although the author is a friend of Murdoch, he has written a reasonably unbiased biography. He reports facts without much personal opinion. Personally, the book only reinforced my original beliefs about Murdoch - that he is an man without morals, out to 'conquer' the globe with his media 'empire', not caring what happens to the the working man along the way, as demonstated by his orchestrating of the Wapping strike in order to sack his workforce, which the author describes in detail. Overall, a good account of the life of one of the most poweful men today.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Excellent "UNBIASED" Biography of the greatest media mogul
Excellent review of easily the most powerful media baron in the world. The author has presented a very brilliant but more importantly, non biased biography that will take you through the rise and rise of Rupert Murdoch. Even if you're in the anti-Murdoch camp, you can't help but to admire this man for what he has created and for what he is today. If you read this, Murdoch, here's to you!
Rating: 5 out of 5
How about an update to the update?
When I read William Shawcross' "Murdoch" back when it was originally published (early 90s), I thought it was one of the best biographies I had read. I especially liked the author's focus on his subject's "pre-News" days, most notably a very memorable discussion on Murdoch's infatuation with Marxism during his university days.Murdoch explains that period away with the following answer: "If you're 20 and not a communist, you have no heart; and if you're 40 and not a capitalist, you have no head."
Shawcross then painstakingly builds a portrait of a man who - over the next 30 years - slides clear across the spectrum to become Maggie Thatcher's biggest champion. There's a great blow-by-blow of Murdoch's battle with the press unions at Wapping, with Thatcher's tacit support.
Of course, things in Murdoch's world move quickly, so Shawcross put out an update edition (this one) in 1997. Now, we need an update to the update. So much has transpired in these six years. We need Shawcross' take on:
- The continued rise of the Fox Network (expecially Fox News)
- Lachlan and James Murdoch's increasingly large roles at News Corp.
- The DirectTV takeover attempts (Part 1 and 2)
- Continued efforts to penetrate India and China
- Wife #3 Wendy Deng + two new young children
...and much, much more. Never a dull moment with the man who fellow (now ex-) mogul Ted Turner heads up the world's leading "evil empire."
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