For this unauthorized biography of media baron Rupert Murdoch, a "uniquely important" information broker whose life has been "an unending assault upon the world," Shawcross ( Sideshow ) had privileged access to Murdoch, to his colleagues and family. The result is a mostly nonjudgmental, flat profile of a driven, often ruthless, lonely man of "invincible energy and ambition" who put together a communications empire stretching from Australia to London to New York, Chicago and Hollywood. Shawcross perceives "a certain dour puritanism" in the king of sensationalist tabloid journalism. Murdoch's life was a series of takeovers, wins and losses that included the acquisitions of the New York Post, the London Times , Fox film and television, and HarperCollins publishers. Murdoch, an ardent supporter of Reaganism and Thatcherism, viewed himself as "totally internationalist" and saw his media empire as instrumental in promoting the Americanization of the world, but Shawcross fails to explore the implications of that prospect. Photos. Author tour.

Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.