Dimensions
129 x 198 x 35mm
The riveting tale of how the wannabe aristo Conrad Black and his social-mountaineering wife Barbara gulled their way into the City, the Tory party, Wall Street and High Society. This new paperback edition will be fully updated to include details of Black's high profile trial for corporate fraud, sure to claim international attention.
The rise and fall of the media tycoon Conrad Black is rivalled in its spectacular extravagance only be the machinations of his social-mountaineering wife, Barbara Amiel. Together their story of over-weening ambition and greed is a modern-day classic of hubris.
There is no bolder or better-informed chronicler of the follies of the rich and powerful than Tom Bower. Fearless in the approach which has brought him accolades for his gripping exposes of Robert Maxwell, Tiny Rowland,Mohammed Fayed and Richard Branson, Bower reveals how the Blacks financed a billionaire's lifestyle and won friends and influence in London and New York.
Born into considerable wealth in Canada, Conrad Black bought and sold (but never effectively managed) several businesses. In 1985 he bought the Telegraph group in London, where very little was known of the controversy over his past financial dealings. In 1992 he married Barbara Amiel. Besotted by his wife, he began living way beyond his means. In 2003 an independent report in America accused him of 'outright fraud', 'ethical corruption' and 'corporate kleptocracy' -- allegations that he will vigorously deny at his trial in Chicago in 2007. This edition will be updated to include the full story of the trial in all its sensational detail.
