Media Man: Ted Turner's Improbable Empire
- Book Review,
by Ken Auletta
From Publishers Weekly
Auletta wrote an excellent New Yorker profile of media mogul Turner in 2001, but this expanded look at the complex figure lacks depth. Auletta describes how Turner, an "obstreperous" Southerner, changed television by turning a tiny Atlanta UHF station into a national cable powerhouse. He covers Turner's other professional moves, such as the launch of CNN and the sale of his company to Time Warner, and addresses darker moments, too, illuminating Turner's difficult childhood under a domineering father, and, later, his divorce from Jane Fonda. To write this retrospective, Auletta conducted nearly 20 hours of taped interviews with the executive. Unfortunately, it seems the author didn't use much of that transcription. Although he touches on Turner's major life events and business decisions, Auletta provides what feels like an executive summary of a much larger, more satisfying book. In describing Turner's education at Brown University, he gives scant detail about quirks and high points, then notes, "He was a first-class jerk." Sections on Turner's business acumen—the real meat of his life—receive the same glossed-over treatment. Turner's tale doesn't unfold naturally, but rather, progresses like a PowerPoint presentation. The biography is loaded with detail, but very little personality—unfortunate, given its fascinating subject. 6 photos. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
Auletta is the media world's greatest chronicler....a riveting tale told by a brilliant writer.
Lesley Stahl, CBS News and 60 Minutes Correspondent
A smart and discerning portrait of Ted Turner....absorbing, enlightening, and fun.
Book Description
America's top media journalist on the rise and fall of the industry's most colorful titan. Ted Turner, the "mouth from the South," revolutionized television. Grasping cable's potential in its infancy, Turner parlayed a tiny UHF station in Atlanta into a national cable superstation; invented the world's first 24-hour cable news channel, CNN; and transformed the MGM film library into lucrative cable networks. Although Turner sold his company to Time Warner and was eventually ousted, his influence is still pervasive in the business world through his philanthropy. Ken Auletta, whose New Yorker profile of Turner won a National Magazine Award for Best Profile in 2001, has written the first book-length retrospective on the volatile Turner and his roller-coaster career, and received the active cooperation of Turner himself, including fifteen hours of taped interviews. Media Man is a captivating view of a daring entrepreneur, a pioneering company, and the industry they helped create. 6 photographs. About the series: W. W. Norton and Atlas Books announce the launch of a dynamic new series: ENTERPRISE pairs distinguished writers with stories of the economic forces that have shaped the modern world—the institutions, the entrepreneurs, the ideas. Enterprise introduces a new genre—the business book as literature.
About the Author
Ken Auletta writes the "Annals of Communications" for The New Yorker and is the author of nine previous books, including Greed and Glory on Wall Street, Three Blind Mice, The Highwaymen, World War 3.0, and Backstory. He lives in New York City.
Buy from Amazon
Compare Prices
|
|
Home
