Young Rupert: the making of the Murdoch empire, by Walter Marsh

In this uneven account of the evolution of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, journalist Walter Marsh presents meticulous reporting on the tangled fortunes of the Murdoch news business as it grows from its base in Adelaide to encompass all of Australia and beyond. Opening with five chapters recounting the career of Keith Murdoch, Rupert’s father, the book shares little about Rupert’s childhood or education. He barely makes an entrance until 80 pages into the book when the senior Murdoch died, and Rupert returned from Oxford to pick up the reins of the family business. Brash and inexperienced, Murdoch relies on the advice of his longtime friend and then colleague, Rohan Rivett, who guides him over the next eight years. While there is an enormous amount of information about the many transactions Murdoch made (or attempted to make), it does not provide a sense of Murdoch as a man, beyond his insatiable need to grow his operation with each acquisition leading to the next. A disproportionate part of the book is an account of a murder case that resulted in libel charges against The News, Murdoch’s most high-profile paper. VERDICT An authoritative yet scattered history of the early Murdoch media empire.

This review was published previously in Library Journal here.