Description: The epic scope of historian Nasaw's award winning biography matches the titanic personality and achievements of William Randolph Hearst (1862-1951), who built the nation's first media conglomerate from a single San Francisco newspaper.
Brief description: DAVID NASAW is the author of The LastMillion: Europe's Displaced Persons FromWorld War to Cold War and several other books. He has served as a historical consultant for several television documentaries and teaches at City University of New York. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Nation, Condé Nast's Traveler, and other periodicals. He resides in New York City.
Review Quotes:
"Nasaw's "The Chief" works on a large, even heroic, canvas and, thanks to Nasaw's exhaustive research, moves on a level of detail that would satisfy even Theodore Dreiser." The Los Angeles Times
"[Nasaw] has given his biography an immediacy that almost makes the reader forget that the author . . . was not there as the story unfolded." --Orville Schell The New York Times "...the Hearst whom Nasaw portrays...is still the fascinating figure we've known for years: the self-absorbed genius equally addicted to power and possessions..." Publishers Weekly "...absorbing and sympathetic portrait of an American original, the first full-scale biography of the publishing giant and politician in nearly 40 years." The Chicago Tribune "In this exhaustively researched biography [Nasaw] has allowed us finally to understand . . . the father of the modern media conglomerate." The Chicago Tribune "Nasaw's judicious and comprehensive biography sensibly seeks to understand its subject, not to judge him." The New Yorker "Unlikely to be surpassed as the definitive study of its subject." The Wall Street Journal "A highly readable portrait of a fascinating individual." The San Francisco Chronicle "Nasaw keeps his subject human and believable, no easy task when writing about such a colorful and forceful man." The Seattle Times "The large and in-charge William Randolph Hearst's flirtations with Hitler, Mussolini, and Louis B. Mayer are documented in David Nasaw's utterly absorbing bio." Vanity Fair "The Chief is both an informative piece of scholarship and a pleasure to read." The San Diego Union-Tribune "Nasaw's intriguing study is a must-read." The Nation "A thoroughly researched volume that must be regarded as the definitive work...It's hard to imagine a more complete rendering of Hearst's life." Business Week "Mr. Nasaw makes Hearst a regular guy . . . and often likable or sympathetic, if far from a universal hero." The New York Times "...the best biography I read in 2000." -- Jonathan Yardley The Washington Post