From the Bestselling Author and
Television Producer of Masters of Sex, a True Story of the Intrigue and
Infighting of Condé Nast, Anna Wintour, S. I. Newhouse Jr., and Tina Brown, and
Optioned by Sony Television Productions
ALL THAT GLITTERS
Anna Wintour, Tina Brown, and the
Rivalry Inside America’s Richest Media Empire
By Thomas Maier
Award-winning
journalist Thomas Maier revisits the Condé
Nast magazine world run by billionaire S. I. Newhouse Jr., in All
That Glitters: Anna Wintour, Tina Brown, and the Rivalry Inside America’s
Richest Media Empire (Skyhorse Publishing; hardcover; September 3rd,
2019)
Anna
Wintour and Tina Brown were bold and talented British women who fought their
way to the top of this male-dominated American industry driven by greed and
betrayal. Wintour became an icon of fashion and New York’s high society, while
Brown helped define the intersection of literary culture and Hollywood
celebrity. They jockeyed for power in the hypercompetitive “off with their
heads” atmosphere set up by Newhouse and his longtime creative guru Alex
Liberman, two men who for years controlled the glossy Condé Nast magazines that
dictated how women should look, dress, and feel. In turning this world upside
down, Wintour and Brown challenged the old rules and made Newhouse’s company
internationally famous.
Ultimately,
one of them won in their fascinating struggle for fame and fortune during the
height of New York’s gilded age of print—a time before the internet, before
9/11, when the Reagans ruled the White House and Donald Trump was a mere local
developer featured on the cover of Newhouse’s publications. This book traces
the careers of Wintour and Brown and shows how they and the Condé Nast media
empire were major media enablers in the rise of Donald Trump and Hollywood
mogul Harvey Weinstein.
At its
heart, All That Glitters is a parable about the changes in America’s
media, where corruption and easy compromises are sprinkled with glitter, power,
and glory. Originally titled Newhouse, this revised and updated edition, with a
new introduction and afterword, won the 1994 Frank Luther Mott Award for best
researched media book of the year.
