FALL

A portrait of one of the most enigmatic figures in the annals of white-collar crime.

Preston uses his adroit reporting skills to investigate the life of British media mogul Robert Maxwell (1923-1991). Born Jan Ludwig Hoch to Jewish parents in Czechoslovakia, Maxwell was barely out of his teens when he was forced to endure the deaths of his parents, grandfather, and three of his siblings at Auschwitz. These experiences contributed to his considerable paranoia; years later, he would bug his office and those of his employees at the headquarters of his company. Preston explores these and other unethical business practices, including Maxwell’s use of company funds for personal reasons. As he constructed his business empire, he gained influence and power, and he became a Member of Parliament for Buckingham in 1964. He hobnobbed with Donald Trump and other flashy big names, and he collaborated with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. Preston devotes substantial attention to Maxwell’s competition with Rupert Murdoch, chronicling Murdoch’s takeover of News of the World and the tabloid battles in New York. Murdoch purchased the New York Post in 1976. Following his purchase of the New York Daily News in 1991, Maxwell forced the publisher to call Murdoch and tell him, “Mr. Murdoch, Bob Maxwell would like you to know that he’s just bought the New York Daily News.” After moving through the major events of his life, the author digs in to the shadowy circumstances surrounding his death. In early November 1991, while on vacation near the Canary Islands, the burly man fell off—or was pushed off—his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, named after his now-infamous daughter. After his death, investigators discovered that he had purloined at least 763,000,00 pounds from his firms. Crimes of that magnitude make people do crazy things, so perhaps Maxwell was murdered. Preston examines this scenario in addition to accidental drowning and suicide.

A well-researched, compelling book that uncovers many mysteries about a media tycoon.