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Sumner Redstone should be dead. At least that's what the prologue to his autobiographical tale of business trial and triumph reveals, relating the story of Redstone's narrow escape and painful recovery from a Boston hotel fire in 1979. It might also be what some of Redstone's business adversaries secretly wish after reading this revealing book. Much has been written about the man in control of the Viacom empire, but in A Passion to Win, the consummate winner spills the beans on how he got to where he is, who stood in his way, and what drives him to succeed. Redstone began life in a hardscrabble Boston neighborhood in the early 1920s, the son of a Jewish entrepreneur and a woman determined to see her children excel. Instilled with a drive to succeed at an early age, Redstone went from the academically tough Boston Latin School to Harvard to a military career breaking Japanese codes during World War II. After the war, he went back to Harvard for law school, then spent the next seven years immersing himself in a profession based on reason and justice, ideals that he claims hold his life together. Realizing that practicing law was just a business, however, he went on to enter another business arena, joining the movie drive-in company his father had founded and very quickly expanding it, assuming leadership, and changing the company's name to National Amusements. Redstone's story details his experiences at the helm of this company--taking on the big studios by challenging film industry practices like blind bidding; investing heavily in those same studios, often to great profit; gathering the stock-owning clout and financing needed to make a serious bid for Viacom; battling fiercely to win against the Viacom management group's efforts to take the company private; and finally acquiring the media conglomerate in 1987. Many of the juicy bits lie in tales of Redstone's subsequent years with Viacom, his involvement (initially through MTV) with the Clintons, and the company's acquisition of both Paramount (and the bidding wars that entailed) and Blockbuster (and that deal's ensuing battles with Wayne Huizenga). Redstone is obviously a tough player, not averse to overriding team decisions when he believes in his own vision and not afraid to litigate when he feels unjustly treated--something he's done often, though he claims to hate lawsuits and denies suing "too readily." But he's also book smart and business savvy, and his story offers many tidbits of advice on deal making and power playing when the stakes are high. A Passion to Win isn't going to win any literary prizes; the writing is simple, and the story unfolds in an often-tedious litany of accomplishments. Indeed, as autobiographies go, this one's tone is rather self-satisfied and can even seem petulant when the author is rehashing what he perceives as the many business wrongs committed against him. But this is a tell-all from a high vantage point in corporate entertainment, and as Redstone's personal account of all that helped and hindered on his way to the heights (jam packed with big-name players in entertainment business, law, finance, and politics), it's sure to be a source of anxiety for some and a titillating read for many. --S. Ketchum
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