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The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News--and Divided a Country by [Sherman, Gabriel]
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The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News--and Divided a Country Kindle Edition

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Gabriel Sherman (Author)
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Gabriel Sherman (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars 191 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • File Size: 4909 KB
  • Print Length: 560 pages
  • Publisher: Random House (January 14, 2014)
  • Publication Date: January 14, 2014
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B00AD6O6BU
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray:
  • Word Wise: Enabled
  • Lending: Not Enabled
  • Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,985 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsDeserves 5 stars despite the knee-jerk lower ratings by conservatives
By L. Kerr on January 27, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Just finished this book. It was well written and thoroughly researched.

Ailes is a media genius. That's the point of the book. Good or bad, Ailes changed American politics more than any person since Reagan.

This book won't cause anyone to change their political views. It will, however, explain how our polarized political culture got from point A to point B.

Ailes himself has always boasted that he's not a news person ("newsie"). In fact, he disdains news people. Before anyone else, he realized that people vote by how they feel rather than how they think. Ailes seeks to persuade people to his politics through pure entertainment. He's impervious to shaming by fact-checking because he's the first one to admit he could care less about facts. That's "old thinking." He's proven himself right. He was the first to mix politics and religion with electronic entertainment. He just happens to have right wing views, but that's not the author's point.

Fox News is not a news organization. It's a political and profit making organization that employs anchor people and talk show hosts. That's the point of the book and it was well made. The left believes that's blasphemy. But Ailes laughs all the way to the bank.

Ailes is not hollow. His conservative views are genuine. He believes his politics justify his means. Any means.

Again, reading this book won't convince anyone to switch political parties. But it will give you insight into our culture.

For me that's enough.

Editing note: After I wrote my review, I realized I omitted some points.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsSo much better than Zev Chafets' pablum...
By HDC on January 16, 2014
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Having recently read Chafets book, "Roger Ailes: Off Camera", which seems just a PR release for Ailes, it's refreshing to wake up into a world where people do good work and have intelligence. Sherman's book is well researched and written. There's actual work, brains and effort put into the writing of this book, and it shows. It's much more interesting, and I'm a somewhat smarter person for having read it, which is what a good book should do.
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4.0 out of 5 starsAiles, ultimate manipulator
By Twark Main on January 17, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Sherman, a contributing editor at New York magazine, delivers a portrait of a manipulating, conniving, controlling, petty and fear-mongering man -- which suggests that the only worthwhile biography of Roger Ailes is an unauthorized biography of Roger Ailes. When Sherman attempted to secure Ailes's cooperation for the book, Fox News PR honcho Brian Lewis, who has since left the network, stipulated that the author must "refrain from using any background quotes or anecdotes that Ailes could consider `negative,' " according to the book. No deal, said Sherman.

Ailes's cooperation, as we've seen, yields mush. Zev Chafets's 2013 book, "Roger Ailes: Off Camera," relied on extensive cooperation from his subject and many others who'd gotten word that Ailes had signed off on the project. The hagiographic result was viewed as a patent attempt by Ailes and Fox News to get out in front of the story, to cement Ailes's image before Sherman could come in and wreck it. It didn't work.

Although Ailes can muzzle himself and most all of his subordinates at Fox News, he lacks that power over others. Sherman exploited that opening: He interviewed 614 people, according to his note on sources.

Sherman shapes those interviews -- along with documents and previous work on his subject's life -- into a detailed Ailes chronology, starting with his upbringing in the northeastern Ohio town of Warren, home to Packard Electric Co., employer of Ailes's father, Robert Ailes. Dad could be a cruel character, as when a young Roger was standing on the top bunk in his bedroom: "His father opened his arms wide and smiled. `Jump Roger, jump,' he told him. Roger leapt off the bed into the air toward his arms. But Robert took a step back. His son fell flat onto the floor.Read more ›
9 Comments 58 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars for courage
By jl on January 14, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
I'm only two and a half chapters into the Kindle version; clearly too early to write a comprehensive review. Still, I can see that it is good.

I'm giving 5 stars for courage. Based on everything I've ever heard, the blowback at the author from this powerful and vindictive man is likely to be considerable. I'm not far enough through to give the entire work a five star rating, but it is fascinating, well written, and well researched. I think the 5 will stick.

Gabriel Sherman is saying what needs to be said. The curtain needs to be pulled back to reveal the actual man operating the powerful puppet show of Fox "News." Politics aside, the impact of this TV station on older American's sanity and state of mind is considerable. I've watched my parents go from reasonably laid-back and somewhat equanimous to being highly anxious and caught in the spell of fear and anger. Ailes manipulates his victims by expertly playing on their fears, triggering their anger, channeling that fear and anger to play into his personal politics. This level of manipulation applies even more to the people who are caught directly in the forcefield of his power. It also applies quite directly to the levers of power driving major events in the world: the run up to the Iraq war, and countless contemporary political machinations. So this is an interesting and powerful figure in our time.

The book so far is well written and seems well researched. I don't believe he is just making anything up here.

The main criticism of this book that I've encountered is that the author never interviewed Ailes directly. OK, yes, we should all have a chance to define ourself, clear up the facts of our lives. But Ailes is not one to clear things up with facts, as far as I can tell.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsGreat Insight into the Man and the Mission

This is a well researched and very interesting book on how Roger Ailes built Fox News from nothing to the dominant force in cable news/entertainment. Read more

Published 7 days ago by Wilson Morcom
5.0 out of 5 starsWell Written and Entertaining Backstory to Current Events

After reading Mr. Gabriel’s recent New York Magazine article about Ailes’ sexual harassment, I wanted to learn some background. Read more

Published 17 days ago by DF
3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

Informative, but biased.

Published 1 month ago by Robert J. Adams
3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

TV is run by bullies and tyrants as shallow as a zero gravity pool

Published 2 months ago by Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 starsFoxy News

Still reading. Very interesting. Didn't know Ailes was into so much. People should read to get a better understanding of Fox News/Business News. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Marion Rivera
5.0 out of 5 starsPlain brilliant.

Amazingly deeply researched, and compellingly written. By successfully resisting the temptation to demonize, Sherman provides a nuanced and informative portrait of a complex man... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Maestro Y
4.0 out of 5 starshowever to bad there was not a paperback available

this is exactly what I expected. It arrived on time and no problems, however to bad there was not a paperback available.

Published 3 months ago by r.hicks
4.0 out of 5 starsWell worth reading

FOX News has become a driving force in the conservative movement in America. It's the defining act in the life of Roger Ailes, the man who's given us FOX News. Read more

Published 5 months ago by Mark
4.0 out of 5 starsSherman's Research Is Monumental

Gabriel Sherman's book is both the biography of Roger Ailes and the history of Fox News. While Fox News fans might react negatively, the book is meticulously researched, with... Read more

Published 6 months ago by Ella Wall Prichard
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat detail on many interfaces with important political and...

The book provides the details needed to understand this very talented, but untrusted individual. Great detail on many interfaces with important
political and industrial... Read more

Published 9 months ago by Amazon Customer

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