Rating: 
Summary: Tawdry, Tarnished--But The Best
Review: I bought "Empire" with the mistaken idea it would be a history of the building: its conception, construction and history. There is some of that but the main thrust is the Art of the Deal: the chicanery, foolishness, cleverness and mind boggling intrigue of the fools, visionaries, and rascals who see the ownership of the Empire State Building as the jewel in their crown, the Nirvana of a real estate deal.The Grand Old Lady is a bit worse for wear, only second tier desirability office rental space, lacking in security and a tad rat infested, but like a true Cleopatra, drives men mad with desire to own her. Investigative journalist, Mitchell Pacelle, does a fine job unraveling the bizarre cast of characters who have tried to nail down ownership, particularly in the last dozen years. Hideki Yokoi, an elderly disgraced Japanese billionaire designated his illegitimate daughter Kiiko to be his emissary and agent in the huge purchase. Kiiko is either a dragon lady or a submissive flower of a daughter and wife to the mysterious James Bondian Jean-Paul Renoir, who is a great businessman, crook, or fall guy; take your pick. You could never make fictional characters out of these people; no one would believe you. On the American front was real estate titan Lawrence Wien, who had a sweetheart 114-year lease on the building. I treasured Mr. Wien because, though very rich, he seemed---well, normal. Partners with Mr. Wien were Harry and the dreaded Leona Helmsley. Multiply everything by ten you have read regarding the Queen of Mean, and you have Leona as she appears in this book. Last but certainly not least, is Donald Trump, the one and only. Donald, who never had one thin dime of his own money invested in the takeover caused merry havoc for over ten years. I had to admire him for two reasons 1) he loathes Leona and never let an opportunity pass to rile and discomfit her, and 2) he structured such a deal, he might have ended up kingpin without a particle of risk on his part. Mr. Pacelle does an excellent job of taking us through this maze of perfidity, and illustrates very well the spell cast by the wooing and winning the Empire State Building. Well researched and a good read. Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: I can't believe I read this book like a novel!
Review: I couldn't put this book down until I found out who really owned the Empire State Building. The fighting, bickering, backstabbing amongst the rich is always something I enjoy reading. I really wanted to know why people were fighting for ownership of this building. The book does a real good job of detailing the court proceedings, and real estate lingo which sometimes made my eyes glaze over but I enjoyed the flow of the book of keeping the story moving from character to character and believe me, there are many of them here including Donald Trump, Leona Helmsley, Hideki Yokoi, and Peter Malkin. So this is what people do when they have too much time on their hands.
Rating:
Summary: Homage to NYC
Review: In these uncertain times what an incredible find. EMPIRE is not only a fascinating story about the power struggle for an
internationally recognized "icon," but it is also a tribute to
the spirit of New York. Mitchell Pacelle's well-written book is a who's who in the powerful world of real estate. The EMPIRE STATE BUILDING stands tall among the skyscrapers of the world, and
EMPIRE clearly illustrates the battle for control of one
of the world's treasured landmark buildings.
Rating:
Summary: Better than the pulpiest fiction
Review: In typical New York fashion, the story of the Empire State Building, from inception to today is stranger than fiction. In his brilliant book, "Empire: A Tale of Obsession, Betrayal, and the Battle for an American Icon", Mitchell Pacelle reveals the intrigues, wheeling-dealing, and financial brawling that surrounds the greatest symbol of America's financial power. Sometimes the depths to which the players sank were as deep as the Empire State Building is high. There are many of the names that you would expect to be involved in this tale: Raskob, Smith, Helmsley, Trump, but there are plenty of surprises (which I won't give away). Mr. Pacelle deserves a load of credit, not just for the research (which is impressive enough) but for the glitzy, brash, and engaging style with which he tells this fascinating story. Only in New York would a story like this happen, and only Mr. Pacelle has told it the way it should. Rocco Dormarunno, author of THE FIVE POINTS
Rating:
Summary: Better than the pulpiest fiction
Review: In typical New York fashion, the story of the Empire State Building, from inception to today is stranger than fiction. In his brilliant book, "Empire: A Tale of Obsession, Betrayal, and the Battle for an American Icon", Mitchell Pacelle reveals the intrigues, wheeling-dealing, and financial brawling that surrounds the greatest symbol of America's financial power. Sometimes the depths to which the players sank were as deep as the Empire State Building is high. There are many of the names that you would expect to be involved in this tale: Raskob, Smith, Helmsley, Trump, but there are plenty of surprises (which I won't give away). Mr. Pacelle deserves a load of credit, not just for the research (which is impressive enough) but for the glitzy, brash, and engaging style with which he tells this fascinating story. Only in New York would a story like this happen, and only Mr. Pacelle has told it the way it should. Rocco Dormarunno, author of THE FIVE POINTS
Rating:
Summary: I kept waiting for Moe...
Review: Man, I loved this craaazy book. New Yorkers, I take my dusty Bubba Gump Seafood hat off to ya'll. EMPIRE was the greatest mix of ego,pathos, and unbridled greed I ever read. If the book had gone to an editor as fiction A lot of changes would have been suggested because the truth is stranger than fiction. I kept waiting for The Three Stooges to show up boinking heads and poking eyes as bumbling real estate salesmen. Wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Read!
Review: Pulitzer Prize-nominated Wall Street Journal journalist Mitchell Pacelle has written an absorbing tale that rivals any novel of business melodrama. If there's anyone left out there who thinks that real estate deals are dry, number-crunching exercises in dullness, this behind-the-scenes look at the extreme personalities vying for control of the Empire State Building will set that myth aside once and for all. We from getAbstract recommend this expertly written page-turner to all readers.
Rating: 
Summary: Strong Story, Very Weak Writing
Review: Reviewers prior to me are effusive in their strong approval of this book. Are they all relatives of the author?! ;-) Pacelle's book is flawed story-telling. The book is a good read but by virtue of the strength of the story rather than by the skill with which Pacelle has written it. As one reviewer suggested, the lunacy of the characters is so out of touch with what most of us consider to be normal that one would wonder if a substantial amount of poetic license had been taken to beef up an otherwise arcane story. Pacelle's character development is flawed in the first 50 pages of the story. His imprecise use of pronouns and disjointed descriptions of conversations require the reader to review sections several times in order to gain a clear understanding of which person said or did something to another person. It is hard to tell if this is Pacelle's fault or his editor's fault. Regardless, the flaws in casual English usage frequently yields confusion in the mind of the reader. Pacelle's story-telling is further flawed by an often pedantic approach to recounting the facts. Any historian can recount facts and verbatim descriptions of a character or event based on extant records. A story-teller historian is able to convey not merely the facts of the subject but skillfully conveys those facts in a manner that leaves the reader feeling as if they are reading excellent fiction. Ron Chernow's "Titan" is a strong example of biographical writing that reads like a can't-put-it-down novel. For most histories or biographies, Pacelle's approach would suffice. The reader would get the gist of the story but be largely unaffected by what he or she read. Yet this is a book about an American icon, whose status has arguably increased with the absence of the buildings that formerly eclipsed it. The Empire State Building will likely again be the building of choice for movies to contextualize scenes now that the World Trade Center is no longer available. It is this status that implies that a story as turbulent, fascinating and incredible as that of the ESB deserves more artful treatment. And it is for this reason that my standards for this book are higher than I would have for a book about a lesser landmark, event or person. Read the book and be prepared to be amazed at irrational egotism that renders Donald Trump almost tolerable but don't expect to enjoy the experience of learning the history of this shockingly undervalued building.
Rating:
Summary: Truth is Stranger than Fiction
Review: Similar to the way the untimely deaths of Elvis and Marilyn helped elevate their status from celebrity to icon, the World Trade Center in the aftermath of the terrorist attack of September 11 seems well on its way to attaining an iconographic stature it never had while it stood. Take a walk through mid-town this holiday season and survey the street-vendors' wares. Twin Tower memorabilia predominates in a way it hasn't in the past, most notably in souvenir photographs of New York's skyline. Yet those towers, the tallest of the Manhattan skyline (and briefly the tallest in the world), never defined the skyline in the hearts and minds of New Yorkers (or the worldwide community) in the way the Empire State Building has over the past seventy years. The warmth of the Empire State Building's limestone facade, the grace of its tapered silhouette, the romance of its history (both real and imagined) combine to create an allure that the boxy glass and steel towers could not match. That history is presented in "Empire, A Tale of Obsession, Betrayal, and the Battle for an American Icon," Mitchell Pacelle's biography of the world's most famous skyscraper, and the book skillfully delivers all that its long title promises. The framework is the decade-long battle waged in the Nineties for ownership and control of the building, but there are ample asides that chronicle its entire history. The cast of players include unscrupulous Japanese billionaire Hideki Yokoi, double-crossed by his daughter and son-in-law, Kiiko Nakahara and Jean-Paul Renoir, who claimed Yokoi gave Nakahara the building as a gift; real estate magnate Harry Helmsley and his partner Lawrence Wein and their heirs, Peter Malkin and the reviled Leona Helmsley, who hold a 114 year lease on the property; and Donald Trump, determined to break that lease. This is a big story about a big building, a big family, big fortunes, big egos and big deals. There are occasions when the details of the deals become confusing (like a set of nesting Russian dolls there are holding companies within holding companies within still more holding companies), but by and large the book is a page turner. "Empire" reads like fiction, except that if it were fiction you'd probably never believe it. The Leona parts are a particularly sinful pleasure, but read it without guilt. This is a well-researched and documented account by a respected reporter of The Wall Street Journal.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Storyteller
Review: Some years ago at at New York Met game i spotted the distinctive pate of Mitch Pacelle sitting down the right field line and in far distance I could swear he was staring at the tall tower that is the Empire State Building. Little did I know than that his imagination, talent, and energy would result in this marvelous history. You don't have to be a maven of skyscrapers and urban history to appreciate this tale, anyone who has lost their job and gone to the top of this building to commiserate and be commiserated will be gripped by every page. A tall tale, if there ever was one.
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