Bonfire of the Murdochs is the real succession story of the Murdoch empire. 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-million dollar reckoning in a succession battle featuring betrayals, lawsuits, and revenge plots.  This is the epic family feud, one whose seeds were planted 50 years ago in Australia, when he complicated patriarch left his homeland to conquer the world and please the ghost of his judgemental father. 

Bestselling author Gabirel Sherman tells the inside story of the 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.

Rupert Murdoch’s plan to rip up the secret trust controlling his empire and anoint his conservative firstborn son Lachlan as successor set him on collision course with his other 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 Gabriel Sherman narrates 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.

Bonfire of the Murdochs: How the Epic Fight to Control the Last Great Media Dynasty Broke a Family – and the World by Gabriel Sherman, Simon & Schuster  £25/$29,256 pages.