Auletta, communications columnist for The New Yorker, recounts the real trial of the century, which he covered from the beginning.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"It is hard to imagine a more absorbing account of Microsoft's marathon battle with the U.S. government and its legions of tenacious rivals. In prose that is at once deft, lucid, and knowing, Ken Auletta unravels the mysteries of antitrust law, as well as the arcana of computers and the Internet, with magisterial ease. Who else could have packed so much information between two covers and yet made the narrative so fluent and compelling? Best of all, the book is liberally sprinkled with memorable portraits of the protagonists, ranging from the amazingly shrewd David Boies to the doughty Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson. And the portrait of Bill Gates-brilliant and visionary, but also mercurial, immature, and ultimately self-destructive-takes on a tragic aura that no reader will forget. This book is a gripping courtroom drama, an elegy for Microsoft's warrior culture, and mandatory reading for anyone interested in the future of the Information Age."
-Ron Chernow, author of Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
"With assurance and skill, Ken Auletta weaves complex economic, legal, and technological ideas into a most compelling story. As in all fine courtroom dramas, the book's hallmark is its vivid delineation of the character of the protagonists. To transform a complex antitrust case into such a gripping narrative is an impressive accomplishment."
-Richard C. Levin, Beinecke Professor of Economics and president, Yale University
"This is Ken Auletta's best book. It works on several levels. First, it's a dramatic page-turner. Second, it's the definitive but plain-English treatment of an issue that is as important as it is complicated: the historic Microsoft trial, the struggle among corporate giants to control the new economy, and the question of whether government should be a spectator or referee. Third, it's a model of fair-minded yet take-no-prisoners reporting that is packed with revelations. Beyond all that, it's a primer for every lawyer and would-be lawyer in America-a reminder that legal scholarship is no substitute for common sense."
-Steven Brill, founder, Court TV, The American Lawyer, Brill's Content, and Contentville
"The Microsoft case is the most important legal dispute of this century or the last. Ken Auletta has done something extraordinary in making its significance sing. His book is a perfect integration of the legal and the business drama at the heart of the case. His insights are relevant not just to the narrow field of antitrust but to democracy in a technology-governed world in general, and to the struggles that will define the coming decades."
-Lawrence Lessig, author of Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace
"A highly compelling account of the extraordinary trial that challenged the invincibility of the world's most powerful corporation. Auletta reveals the personalities behind the headlines and brings into sharp focus the very human qualities that have made Microsoft so powerful-and so vulnerable."
-Kim Polese, chairman and chief strategy officer, Marimba, Inc.
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