Customer Reviews

A Matter of Principle

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A wonderfully written book that is impossible to put down. My conclusion after reading the book is that Conrad Black is a man of great courage who was unjustly persecuted.

Readers are bound to project their values and judgments on this book. The title (a pun on principal?) invites value judgment. The book is an elaborate Apologia Pro Vita Mea--I am going Latinate like Black. Black ditched Canada because he was too big a fish for our piddling pond; not enough space for his acquisitiveness. He set up shop in the US and incorporated in Delaware with 50(60?)% of Fortune 500 companies because Delaware offers the most management-friendly laws in the US. But when Delaware's Court of Chancery finds against him, he lambastes the judge mercilessly--the big baby. This reviewer does not pretend to understand the labarinth of 18 charges against Black, of which he was ultimately convicted of two, enough to send him to the Big House for 6-7 years. Oh, he has issues with the Chicago trial judge and the appeal court judge and the Illinois court circuit; he would never ever have been found guilty in a more civilized legal climate, Canada say. He spends much space lambasting the American prosecutorial system, specifically prosecutors' use of plea bargain with smaller fry to convict the big fish--himself. He evades responsibility for getting caught in their net by saying he didn't know or didn't understand this or that condition of doing business in the US. And he blames underlings or his lawyers for not warning him. For his Chicago trial, he uses a Canadian defense lawyer whom he then charges with not studying Illinois court procedure, as Black had begged him to. He is appalled by the avarice and expense of US star lawyers; when he can't produce a $25million retainer, one dumps him.
So why read the book? If the above were all there was to it, I would say forget it. But there is more--much more. Black has met or been friends with many VIP's in England and America whom he describes with incisive anecdotes. Also there is his formidable command of language, and not just English. For example, he does a delectable vivisection of Marie-Josee Kravis, a French-Canadian arriviste, who sniffing trouble brewing at Hollinger Inc., Black's US corporation, resigns from the Board. He lards his prose with French-English expressions; character assassination has never been so elegant (pp.380-1) or deadly.
There are perplexing positives to him. The mutual devotion between him and his wife, the clever journalist Barbara Amiel, is touching; as is his affection for his children by a first marriage. Then there is his Roman Catholicism. A convert of years' standing, he lets us know he has done much self-examination and consequent confession--and of course has received absolution. In one picture, Black's desk sports a commissioned bust of Cardinal John Henry Newman. He has built a private chapel at his Toronto estate, consecrated by two Toronto cardinals, which completes a walled garden with fountain where he gardens and feels great peace.
This is a good book to read on iPad-Kindle with touch-screen dictionary; Black uses many arcane words which are worth exploring.

Conrad Black has produced a tour de force with his new book "a matter of principle". Here is the first hand story of a glamourous life of privilege and influence transformed by an incredible eight journey through the worst of American "justice" . At times humorous, often dramatic and always entertaining this book is about the battle of one man against an oppressive system. It is also about the transformation (and resurrection) of Conrad Black. Though the prose is a bit tedious in places the reader will find nuggets and seams of golden text - especially when he describes his time at the Coleman Correction Center in Florida.

In the boardroom battles and the courtroom trials, Conrad Black sat across from some very dangerous and destructive people. But the next most dangerous people (and only by a tiny amount) were the lawyers sitting by his side. Black is pretty candid about the difficulties and the outrageous cost of dealing with legal firms and individual lawyers, who are part (along with the judges and prosecutors) of what he terms "a medieval guild". Time after time in reading this book the words of the Al Stewart song "License to Steal" came to mind:

'He's taking from them, he's taking from you
Lawyers love money, anybody's will do'

Only at the very end of this saga, when Black appeals his convictions to the Supreme Court of the United States, does he seem to find competent counsel who are interested in doing the best for their client, rather than grandstanding for the enhancement of their reputations.

In addition to a very detailed accounting of the legal issues surrounding his situation, Black takes some time to comment on the very damaging effect of the unrestrained prosecutorial system in the U.S. He draws on his experience in prison to make some very trenchant comments on where the U.S. is headed under this regime.

It would be untrue to say this book is an easy read: the issues and personalities are complex and the story long and complicated. But the reward is great. It is very uplifting how Conrad Black has persevered in the face of attempts to destroy him that are partly ideological, partly pure greed, and partly personal animus. Reading this book, you see the strong and affectionate bond between Conrad Black and his wife, Barbara Amiel, and with the rest of his family.

And you will see clearly how the U.S. is well on the road to becoming a cruel and twisted state, with the fundamental rights emplaced by the Founding Fathers viciously flouted and ignored by the judicial system.

I began this book intrested by bits and snippets of reviews. This is by no means a "light" read. Mr. Black has an extensive vocabulary, and no one need encourage his demonstration of its' use. If only to provide colorful and descriptive narrative, he has met his goal, and then some. His story, and it is indeed fascinating one, seems to drag along burdened by the narrative. It almost seems as though we are indeed the living years of his life, and I wondered if it could ever arrive at a conclusion. Within Mr. Blacks' circles of familiars, I am sure they enjoyed the references and his sketches of their respective character, some times sketching a verbal caricature of his tormentors that would do Dickens justice. I think it could have been edited down to perhaps 1/3 the number of pages. Oddly, it seems the smallest of details pile up here and there and to me, tended to overshadow the the story itself. I found myself, on occassion, thumbing back to find the story thread that was bound and woven into narrative. His literary skills are without question, but I sometimes felt I reading a book whose payment was based upon the number of words or pages produced. He pleaded his case well, and was vindicated so to speak, but as the cliche question presents itself, "At what price?" He found his friends lacking and coming up short time and time again. He seemed to hold his fellow inmates in higher esteem than those friends who deserted him as he sank into a quicksand of legal problems. At the end, it's not really an ending per se but seemed more like clearing a table top of clutter by sweeping it into a dustbin at the conclusion. He learned first hand the huge pitfalls of the Justice System. His love of America endures, but I am sure it is now conditional, and perhaps rightfully so. He had the blinders of social status and wealth ripped from his head, and saw the peripheral view of America for the first time. He experienced the sight of what it is good, felt the weight of what is bad and the need for someone to point out the attitudes and errors that will slowly eat away at our rights. Hi descriptions do justice, (No pun intended)for a legal system not only inept, but lacking. So weighted down with the self perceived grandeur of some Judges so as to paralyse it. The ability to provide a fair and unbiased judgement is justice served. He struck a nerve. He won essentially, and fought the good fight at each step. This book is to me best described at comparing a calendar to a daytimer. I can see the important points, but do I really care about his expression at the moment or appearance to the point it weighs the story down, and it did sadly.

This ebullient book provides lively fanfare for the return of a man who has still much to accomplish, as an author and entrepreneur. The case against Black was always jerry-built and these pages meticulously explain why. In light of the injustice he encountered at the hands of unscrupulous prosecutors, A Matter of Principle is not simply an apologia: it is a study in resilence. The book is also full of incisive contemporary history. Black wrote brilliantly about FDR and Nixon; he brings the same brilliance to this autobiographical tour de force. Highly recommended.