In a stunning display of storytelling， reminiscent of his blockbuster Kane & Abel， Jeffrey Archer creates two extraordinary protagonists whose life stories could have been taken from today s headlines， and pits them against each other as each strives to be the first to create a global media empire and become the most powerful man on earth. Lubji Hoch breaks the bonds of his humble beginnings as the son of an illiterate Jewish peasant， escapes the Nazis， changes his name to Richard Armstrong， becomes a decorated officer in the British army and ultimately finds himself in Berlin， where his sharp mind and killer instincts win him the opportunity to head up a floundering newspaper. As rival papers in the city fail in the wake of his ruthlessness， he is poised to move on to even greater things. On the other side of the world， in Australia， Keith Townsend， son of a millionaire newspaper owner， is being groomed to follow in his father s footsteps. Private schools， an Oxford degree and a position at a London newspaper lead him up to the time of his father s death， when he takes over the family business. His energy and brilliant strategic thinking quickly make him the leading newspaper publisher in Australia. Yet he， too， longs to move on to the world stage. Armstrong s and Townsend s ambitions collide on a global scale. Each controls a mass-circulation British tabloid and a New York daily newspaper that is losing money. Each suddenly finds himself threatened by financial disaster brought on by enormous debts. Both become desperate to save their crumbling empires. One ends up flying his private jet to his yacht in Nice and ordering the captain to sail out to sea. The other prepares a press release to announce that he is about to go bankrupt. The Fourth Estate is the timely and compelling story of two men who， though they come from totally different backgrounds， stand face to face on the highest precipice， prepared to risk everything to beat each other and control the biggest media empire in the world.