Auletta, Ken. The Highwaymen: Warriors of the Information Superhighway. New York: Random House, 1997. 346 pages.

As a snapshot of where high-tech was headed, this book was out of date by the time it was published. Except for a fawning chapter on Michael Kinsley and his move to Microsoft as the editor for "Slate," there is almost no mention of the Internet. These sixteen essays were written for New Yorker magazine between 1992 and 1996. There is a fair amount of information on personalities such as Frank J. Biondi, Jr., Edgar Bronfman (Sr. and Jr.), Barry Diller, Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Gerald M. Levin, John C. Malone, Rupert Murdoch, Michael Ovitz, Sumner Redstone, and Ted Turner.

Ken Auletta is not qualified to report on the digital revolution, so it's appropriate that most of this book is about the analog "information superhighway" of cable TV, broadcast satellites, and Hollywood getting its act together for "500 interactive channels." The chapter titled "Portrait of a Software Giant" is about Viacom, because Auletta defines "software" as movies, sitcoms, and videocassettes. Then there's the problem of excessive toadyism; one critic brutally dismissed Auletta's writing as "CEO porn." But how else do you get access to Hollywood's rich and famous? The chapter on Rupert Murdoch alone is worth the price of this book -- but only because this book was quickly remaindered, and is now available for a song.
ISBN 0-679-45738-0

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