Bonfire of the Murdochs

'An exuberant chronicle of seduction and betrayal' - Tina Brown, The Observer

‘A rollercoaster account […] What Bonfire of the Murdochs, a slim book by Gabriel Sherman, achieves is to condense the history to its essence. The book seeks to explain Murdoch’s broken family relationships not as a departure from his empire-building, but a product of the same ruthlessness that facilitated his success’ – Financial Times

‘This is the book for fans of Succession. […] Sherman knows his material. He has a clear fascination with viewing global events through the lens of a single, power-hungry protagonist’ – New Statesman

When Rupert Murdoch made a fateful decision about who should inherit his media colossus, he believed that pitting his children against each other would produce the most capable heir. Twenty-five years later, that gamble would tear apart one of the world’s most powerful families and trigger a multi-billion dollar reckoning in a succession battle featuring betrayals, lawsuits, and revenge plots.

In Bonfire of the Murdochs, bestselling author Gabriel Sherman tells the inside story of this epic family war, one whose seeds were planted a half-century ago in Australia when the complicated patriarch left his homeland to conquer the world and please the ghost of his judgmental father. That quest culminated in a media empire that controlled Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and tabloids on three continents, which wielded more political and cultural power than any single company in modern times.

But Rupert’s plan to rip up the secret trust controlling his empire and anoint his conservative firstborn son Lachlan as successor set him on a collision course with his three more liberal children What price would Rupert pay to secure his legacy? For the aging patriarch, this would be his final and most personal deal.

Based on interviews with more than 150 sources, Bonfire of the Murdochs is a richly textured narrative where each child plays their predestined role in a blood feud that explodes in a courtroom showdown. There, Murdoch’s children weaponize his own secrets against him. It is a tragedy Shakespeare would have appreciated, where getting everything you want costs everything you love.