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Title: The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst by David Nasaw ISBN: 0618154469 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 06 September, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25
Rating: 4
Summary: Who is Citizen Kane?
Comment: A couple of years ago, the American Film Institute called Citizen Kane the best movie ever created. If the revival of Citizen Kane (based on Hearst) never happened, it is unlikely that this book would have been published. Still, Nasaw writes a compelling work. It's intimidating at 800+ pages, but it is interesting enough to get through in a few weeks without prodigious effort.
Hearst lived an exciting life of wealth and travel since his birth, and this book doesn't leave out an ounce of his peripatetic existence. Although it is easy to tell Nasaw has an obliging respect for the man (why else would he write the book?) and enough new findings to make this worth a book, you get the sense that Hearst just wasn't very good at business. He seemed to succeed by way of his personal charm and off-the-cuff style. Even if you have little interest in business, there is enough in this book about Hearst's personality and his accumulation of property and objets d'art to satisfy you. Overall: Well-written and interesting, if a little bit too much of one man -- you often feel that this is a month-by-month account of his life.
Rating: 4
Summary: Clear-eyed view of a much mythologized man
Comment: Very entertaining, well-written and (rare these days) well-edited true story of WR Hearst's life (as opposed to the various stories and personas promulgated by his employees and enemies, not to mention Citizen Kane). I appreciated learning the truth; I held many misconceptions, as it turned out. But in the end, Hearst was four things: Newspaperman, wealthy American, businessman and builder of San Simeon. Nasaw covers the first two topics in depth, but tends to gloss the details of the latter two. I would have preferred more details of how San Simeon was arranged, how large its rooms were, and that sort of thing. And I suspect Hearst's capitalization structure and the details of his finances would have been interesting as well. But Nasaw quotes heavily from Hearst's editorials--he was a very persuasive writer--and describes the man's expensive habits and his courtiers completely. If you enjoy biographies, this is one, well-done.
Rating: 4
Summary: Fairly balanced and informative
Comment: For most people who know Hearst only through "Citizen Kane," this will be an informative book. Thankfully, Nasaw keeps his discussion of "Kane" restricted to a somewhat brief chapter towards the end of the book. In the larger context of Hearst's life, the "Kane" episode is a minor chapter at best.
I suppose enough bad things have been written about Hearst that Nasaw did not feel the need to write about all of the warts. He seems more sympathetic than is necessary towards a man who, among other things, was not a particularly good father, held whatever political views were convenient for him at the time, and who was wastefully excessive to a stunning degree. When writing about Hearst's bankruptcy and subsequent re-organization of assets under a trustee, Nasaw almost seems to feel that Hearst is being treated unfairly at times.
The one thing missing from the book that I would have enjoyed is a more thorough discussion of the competition between Hearst and men such as the Pulitzers, McCormick, and Ochs. The source of the man's influence was his newspapers, after all. A more in-depth discussion of the newspaper industry would not have been out of place.
All in all, this is an informative book, as Hearst becomes more a part of history.
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Title: The Times We Had: Life With William Randolph Hearst by Marion Davies ISBN: 034532739X Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: December, 1989 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Hearst Castle: The Biography of a Country House by Victoria Kastner, Victoria Garagliano, George Plimpton ISBN: 0810934159 Publisher: Harry N Abrams Pub. Date: 01 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $49.50 |
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Title: Citizen Hearst: A Biography of William Randolph Hearst by W. A. Swanberg, W. A. Swanburg ISBN: 0684171473 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: March, 1984 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: Hearst Over Hollywood by Louis Pizzitola ISBN: 0231116462 Publisher: Columbia University Press Pub. Date: 15 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: Julia Morgan, Architect by Sara Holmes Boutelle, Richard Barnes ISBN: 0789200198 Publisher: Abbeville Press, Inc. Pub. Date: October, 1995 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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