Short Synopsis
Set in the highest echelon of the media, this saga of an American institution under siege is a bonfire of barbarians and boldface names.

Full Synopsis
This is a tale about big business, an imploding dynasty, a mogul at war, and a deal that sums up an era of change. The main character, rocked by feuding factions and those who would remake it, is the Wall Street Journal, which affects the thoughts, votes, and stocks of two million readers daily. Sarah Ellison, while at the Journal, won praise for covering the $5 billion acquisition that transformed the pride of Dow Jones and the estimable but eccentric Bancroft family into the jewel of Rupert Murdoch's kingdom.

Going above and beyond her original reporting and the accounts of others, Ellison uses her knowledge of the paper and its people to go deep inside the landmark transaction—and also far beyond it, into the rocky transition when Murdoch's crew tussled with old Journal hands and geared up for battle with the New York Times. With access to all the players, Ellison moves from newsrooms (where editors duel) to estates (where the Bancrofts go at it like the Ewings). She shows Murdoch, finally, for who he is—maneuvering, firing, and undoing all that the Bancrofts had protected.

Here is a superlative account of a deal with reverberations beyond the news, told with the storytelling savvy that transforms big stories into timeless chronicles of American life and power.

"Sarah Ellison has written a definitive, indeed cinematic, account.... She spins an absorbing yarn played out on super-yachts and in corporate jets, populated by an irresistible cast of characters." ---The New York Times Book Review

"A riveting and engaging examination of the current state of the US media and the drama behind one of its most important companies." ---The Boston Globe

"Ellison offers a close look into a raw, aggressive power in international commerce." ---Publishers Weekly

"This is an excellent book." ---Booklist

"It's a measure of Ellison's evenhandedness that, while clearly no Murdoch fan, she candidly exposes the ownership and management deficiencies that made a journalistic icon so vulnerable to capture." ---Kirkus