Autumn of the Moguls : My Misadventures With the Titans, Poseurs, and Money Guys Who Mastered and Messed Up Big Media

Rating:
Summary: Incredible writer
Review: I don't know why this is called a business book. It reminds me much more of Norman Mailer. It's a social and personal essay. I know Wolff's work well. His column in New York magazine is one of the best things there or, for that matter, in any other magazine. It's incredible writing. Who else is writing prose like this? Who else is this funny? It's deep, subversive, blasphemous humor. This book, like his column, is theoretically about the media business, but it's really about the sanctimony of American culture. Wolff rips it apart. He says what every person knows, but is too well-mannered, or repressed to say. Wolff is a great writer and this is a great book.

Rating:
Summary: Who's the Biggest Poseur of All?
Review: I read Autumn of the Moguls in disbelief. This is the "journalist" New York magazine was paying a half million dollars a year to for his supposed insights into the media business? What insights? What a lazy book this is. I was insulted by Wolff's arrogance, relentless posing, and absolute lack of any substance. So, cool. He got to sit at the same table as Rupert Murdoch. He's met Sumner Redstone. He gets invited to "mogul" meetings now and then. Big deal. The guy comes off as a total loser. No, wait: "total loser"--that's me. I paid full price for this meaningless rubbish.

Rating:
Summary: Superficial Gossip as Background for a Conference
Review: If you want to read a book of common gossip about the foibles of those who head media companies, Autumn of the Moguls is the book for you. Mr. Wolff sees himself as a critic of the media and its leaders, and the gossip takes mostly a negative slant. He's a talented writer, and he does succeed in lampooning those in power . . . while acknowledging that even he feels the power of the media moguls when in their presence.

The book is structured around telling the story of a conference of media executives that Mr. Wolff participated in as an interviewer. If you have ever attended such a conference, you know that the main purposes are to make money for the promoters, make contacts for the participants and feed the egos of the speakers. Mr. Wolff captured those parts well, but in far too much detail for my taste. I found myself losing interest, and found it hard to keep picking the book up again.

I rated the book at two stars for several reasons.

First, as a source of gossip the book is flawed. People in the media industry do like to gossip about each other. I'm hardly a media insider, but I knew dozens of better stories about the people Mr. Wolff writes about than he included in his book. It seems like he doesn't really know the juicy gossip. Even when he reveals something that could be titillating, he doesn't do much with it. For example, one of his subjects is gay, and Mr. Wolff makes much of that point without ever connecting the fact to any good stories (other than being told not to print the fact). One can only conclude that Mr. Wolff doesn't know any good stories about the person.

Second, his analysis of the industry and its leaders is very superficial. It won't tell you anything you don't know from watching television. Are you surprised to learn that newspapers are losing readers and the broadcast networks are losing viewers?

Third, there is almost no business perspective in the book. So this is not a book about business, but about people who work in businesses.

Fourth, Mr. Wolff seems to know journalists (from his Time Inc. days) better than he knows media moguls. I'm not really all that interested in what happens to journalists. So I found those sections uninteresting.

Fifth, Mr. Wolff doesn't like to point out anything good that someone has done. Although this book is a satire (like the fictional Bonfire of the Vanities), it lacks balance. Some of the people he writes about are fools, but some are pretty effective at what they do. From this book, the writer's perspective makes them all sound alike.

Sixth, the ultimate thesis is somewhat suspect . . . that the ego-driven need for attention by moguls has single-handedly corrupted the media. It's as though the audience plays no part in media corruption. If no one paid any attention to a new show, magazine or Internet format, that approach would soon be dropped.

I seldom feel like I've wasted my time when I read a book by a fine writer, but I did this time.

You may be wondering why I didn't rate this book at one star. I was impressed by the many occasions when Mr. Wolff acknowledged his own shortcomings in being awed by power. He isn't able to be critical to his subjects' faces like he is able to do in print. That was a nice touch. As for the rest of the book, I found his high opinion of himself as the sole voice of reason among those who write about the media to be annoying.
I would skip this book in favor of a current magazine, television show, or Web site offering the latest gossip on media moguls.