To understand today's world—its media, its politics, and its culture wars—you must first understand Rupert Murdoch. For seventy years, he cultivated leaders like Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Tony Blair, and, eventually, Donald Trump. Across continents and decades, presidents and prime ministers sought his favor—and feared his wrath. But Murdoch's real achievement is how he built that influence in the first place.

At twenty-one years old, he inherited two failing Australian papers after his father's sudden death left the family in debt with rivals circling. Deal by deal, he fought his way from Adelaide to London to America, buying up ailing newspapers that his established competitors were convinced would fail. With each win, he wagered more, until he'd assembled a globe-spanning empire that gave him leverage over politics, culture, and the news itself.

He nearly lost it all under a mountain of debt in 1990. He missed the internet, twice. A phone-hacking scandal made him a pariah in the UK. And late in life, he fought his own children over who would inherit what he'd built. Yet Murdoch’s influence persisted through every crisis: his career both masterclass and cautionary tale about the power that comes from controlling the story.

Drawing on hundreds of interviews, this sweeping biography reveals the man behind the empire—and the century he helped shape.