The History of the Times: The Murdoch Years: 7 [Hardcover]

Praise for ‘The History of the Times’:

‘pulsing with journalistic flesh and blood…Stewart has written a judicious, balanced account of a fascinating period in the life of a great newspaper.’ Alan Rusbridger (editor of The Guardian)

‘Pulsing with journalistic flesh and blood … a judicious, balanced account of a fascinating period in the life of a great paper.’ Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian

'Stewart has produced a book bursting with previously unpublished detail … this is not just the history of The Times, but of our times … all human life, as they say, is here. Times readers will find it a demanding but rewarding peep inside their favourite paper.' Western Daily Press

‘… it is one of the best evocations I have ever read of the pandemonium of a newspaper office … Stewart is definitive.’ The Sunday Times

‘Part gangland thriller, part heroic romance … Stewart argues convincingly that The Times by 2002 was a far more robust proposition than the paper Murdoch purchased.’ TLS

‘Stewart’s book should appeal to a wider audience than journalists… The Times’s story is told well here…To say [Graham Stewart] is fair may sound tepid. Actually it is high praise.’ Literary Review

'No biographer of Rupert Murdoch, whether hatchet man or hagiographer, has told you more between the lines than the proper and properly resourced scholar whose official “History of The Times: The Murdoch Years” slips sedately on to library shelves this week.' Peter Preston, Observer

'The latest Times historian succeeds in holding the ring with objectivity… He tells the story of the 1983 notorious Hitler Diaries hoax with verve and brio.' Anthony Howard, The Times

'[A] magisterial summing up.’ Harry Reid, The Herald

More Praise for ‘The History of the Times’:

‘The author presents an attractive and incisive … tour d’horizon of world history with magisterial loftiness.… page after page of inspiring prose’ The Telegraph, India

Praise for ‘Burying Caesar: Churchill, Chamberlain and the Battle for the Tory Party’:

‘A fascinating political story… well told, admirably written and deeply researched by a first-time author who has made an excellent debut.’
New Statesman

The seventh in a series chronicling the remarkable history of The Times newspaper and the media mogul who bought and reshaped it in the early 1980s.

This volume looks at the history of one of Britain’s most venerable newspapers since its takeover by Rupert Murdoch in 1981, and the many changes that took place in the turbulent years that followed.

The account will encompass the media mogul’s infamous clashes with the British printers’ unions, culminating in 1986 with the Wapping dispute in which the power of the unions was decisively broken, with far-reaching implications for British trade unions and the media at large.

Taking over from the late John Grigg, who wrote the most recent two volumes in this series, Graham Stewart is a highly rated historian with a gift for depicting the complex characters who inhabit the upper echelons of power. With this book, he will provide valuable insight into the workings of one of the most controversial business leaders in the world today and the newspaper that helped shape his media empire.

In 1980, The Times was one of the world's most famous newspapers. It was also in chaos. Losing millions of pounds a year and repeatedly crippled by industrial action, it had been off the streets for eleven months between 1979 and 1980, when its owners finally decided to cut their losses. When Rupert Murdoch, owner of The Sun and News of the World, heard that The Times was being put up for sale, he commented laconically, "I doubt whether there will be any buyers."

Months later, it was Murdoch, one of the most controversial media moguls of the age, who won control of the paper in a contentious sale that many feared would see a treasured national institution rescued by a tabloid owner intent on traducing the values that had made it great. Starting with that historic moment, this is the frank and absorbing history of the power struggles, triumphs and gaffes that shaped Murdoch's Times in the closing decades of an extraordinary century. Behind the venerable façade the paper presented to the outside world, Graham Stewart reveals an institution as divided, uncertain and varied as the news events it covered. It is the story of the editors who - with differing degrees of success - sought to steer the paper with wit, intelligence, integrity and, sometimes, intimidation. It is also the tale of the journalists who have reported, analysed and interpreted the news to a reading public as often outraged as it was approving.

From the Falklands War to the Ashcroft affair; the Wapping Dispute that decisively smashed the power of the trades unions to the court cases that helped reshape British libel law; through Thatcher, Major and Blair, this is an erudite and entertaining look at the inner workings of a world-renowned paper. It provides a fascinating lens through which to review the close of the twentieth century and the dawn of the twenty-first.

Graham Stewart is the author of the internationally acclaimed Burying Caesar and the forthcoming Friendship and Betrayal. He worked as historical researcher to the late Alan Clark before taking up his current role as historian of The Times newspaper.

Graham Stewart is a leading 20th-century historian, author of Burying Caesar and Friendship and Betrayal. He worked as historical researcher to the late Alan Clark before taking up his current role as historian of The Times newspaper.