- Hardcover: 440 pages
- Publisher: ECW PRESS; annotated edition edition (14 Feb 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1550228064
- ISBN-13: 978-1550228069
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.7 x 4.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,234,950 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Robber Baron: Lord Black of the Crossharbour
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The unauthorised biography of Conrad Black, a man who built the third-largest media empire and is facing criminal charges in Chicago for alleged fraud, money laundering and rackateering. Based on rigourous research, hard-hitting interviews, original documents and exclusive access to Black and his close family and friends, key associates, critics and staunch enemies this is a fascinating insider's look at a complex, driven man.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover
A fascinating read about corporate high finance and deception. This blistering tale reveals the fall of the newspaper baron Conrad Black, which has a symmetrical feel about it as the beginning of Black's ascendancy was also mired in controversy.
The author was very close to Black and the book was authorised although after the fraud trial it ended up very different to its original intentions. All the major publishers and owners are name-checked, including another robber Robert Maxwell. Black was born in Canada and Canadian politics recur throughout the book. This is also compelling as it leads you to believe that politics is the same the world over.
Black ruthlessly bought and sold newspapers. He elicited payments from buyers for non-compete fees, which in one instance amounted to him paying himself not to compete against himself! The author states the turning point was when Black made the company public in America as Tombs writes "He seemed to forget that once he took Hollinger International public, and raised capital through several initial public offerings, he was now answerable to those public shareholders- he was working for them."
The United States is the most litigious country in the world and Black's neck was about to be chopped. Excerpts from the trial reveal incompetence from the companies' auditors, though this was not enough to disprove Black's crookedness.
Even when it was all falling apart Black believed he could stave off the wolves, during his troubles he wrote a lengthy biography of Richard Nixon. Unlike the disgraced former president he didn't pass go and ... well, you know the rest.
The author was very close to Black and the book was authorised although after the fraud trial it ended up very different to its original intentions. All the major publishers and owners are name-checked, including another robber Robert Maxwell. Black was born in Canada and Canadian politics recur throughout the book. This is also compelling as it leads you to believe that politics is the same the world over.
Black ruthlessly bought and sold newspapers. He elicited payments from buyers for non-compete fees, which in one instance amounted to him paying himself not to compete against himself! The author states the turning point was when Black made the company public in America as Tombs writes "He seemed to forget that once he took Hollinger International public, and raised capital through several initial public offerings, he was now answerable to those public shareholders- he was working for them."
The United States is the most litigious country in the world and Black's neck was about to be chopped. Excerpts from the trial reveal incompetence from the companies' auditors, though this was not enough to disprove Black's crookedness.
Even when it was all falling apart Black believed he could stave off the wolves, during his troubles he wrote a lengthy biography of Richard Nixon. Unlike the disgraced former president he didn't pass go and ... well, you know the rest.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Not really about the trial, just a repeat of Black's own biography
25 July 2011
Format:Hardcover
I expected to read about the charges and the trial since the book is entitled Robber Baron but the most of the book is just a rehash of Black's own autobiography and it also is a bio of sorts of his wife Barbara Amiel. This has been written about before by both Amiel and Black, so it's not much fun reading the whole thing over again for those of us who have already read the respective autobios of the 2 main characters. Also, the author did have some interviews with Black, and claims Black trusted him and no other journalist, but considering the title of the book, poor Black should not have trusted yet another journalist wanting to make a buck through selling a book. I am sure after this one Black will not trust journalists, period. In all fairness, I have not finished the book yet, but I am finding it difficult to get through some of the long drawn-out and boring chapters.
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