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Issue Details: First known date: 2015... 2015 Before Rupert : Keith Murdoch and the Birth of a Dynasty
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Following the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, Rupert Murdoch said his greatest regret was that he had let his father down. Popular history views Sir Keith Murdoch (1885–1952) as a fearless war correspondent – author of the famous letter that led to the evacuation of the Anzac force from Gallipoli – and a principled journalist and dedicated family man who, on his death, left a single provincial newspaper to Rupert. This benign reputation is unsurprising: the two previously published biographies of Keith were Murdoch family commissions.

But is there another side to the story of Keith’s success and the origins of News Corporation?

With controversial revelations – of forgotten fiancées, First World War propaganda operations, the promotion of eugenics, and the sensationalising of a schoolgirl’s murder leading to the execution of an innocent man – Before Rupert is an unflinching prequel to the saga of the Murdoch family’s rise to power, and details how Keith Murdoch ruthlessly exploited his influence and networks to gain control over Australia’s media and political landscape. (Publication summary)

Notes

  • Dedication: For my parents and Tim

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

Christine Wallace Review of Tom D. C. Roberts, Before Rupert: Keith Murdoch and the Birth of a Dynasty and Paul Strangio, Paul ‘t Hart and James Walter, The Pivot of Power : Australian Prime Ministers and Political Leadership, 1949–2016 Christine Wallace , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Biography and History , April no. 3 2020; (p. 185-190)

— Review of Before Rupert : Keith Murdoch and the Birth of a Dynasty Tom D. C. Roberts , 2015 single work biography
'When Keith Murdoch died in 1952, the Herald and Weekly Times published a  62-page encomium, Keith Murdoch, Journalist. 1 Referred to in house as the ‘Sir Keith Murdoch Tribute Book’, a limited edition of 2,500 copies was published for staff, friends and business associates.2 The brilliant and beneficent Murdoch of the ‘tribute book’—son of Scottish migrants to Melbourne, Rev. Patrick Murdoch and wife Annie (née Brown), and nephew of esteemed Australian academic and essayist Walter Murdoch—was a visionary who built Australia’s first national media empire. It barely mentioned his son, Keith Rupert Murdoch, 21 years old at the time, who seized the patriarch’s news baton and built the world’s most powerful international media empire.' (Introduction)
UnAuthorised : Commissions, Omissions and Unpublished Books Tom D. C. Roberts , 2018 single work column
— Appears in: Sydney PEN Magazine , November 2018; (p. 29-34)

'Tom D.C. Roberts, winner of last year’s National Biography Award for Before Rupert: Keith Murdoch and the Birth of a Dynasty, delivered this year’s National Biography Award Lecture.'  (Introduction)

A Privilege Bound with a Responsibility for Accuracy Sandra Symons , 2017 single work column
— Appears in: Sydney PEN Magazine , November 2017; (p. 21)

'A love of biography is driven by the universal hunger to better understand other human lives, according to Dr Peter Cochrane. “It provides us with that sense of how things are for each of us, or indeed for the lives of people we could not begin to imagine but for the biographer’s capacity to recreate the otherness of such people and their social world.”' (Introduction)

Lord Southcliffe Paul Morgan , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January-February no. 378 2016; (p. 50)

— Review of Before Rupert : Keith Murdoch and the Birth of a Dynasty Tom D. C. Roberts , 2015 single work biography
Tom D. C. Roberts, Before Rupert XS , 2015 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 28 November 2015;

— Review of Before Rupert : Keith Murdoch and the Birth of a Dynasty Tom D. C. Roberts , 2015 single work biography
Lord Southcliffe Paul Morgan , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January-February no. 378 2016; (p. 50)

— Review of Before Rupert : Keith Murdoch and the Birth of a Dynasty Tom D. C. Roberts , 2015 single work biography
Tom D. C. Roberts, Before Rupert XS , 2015 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 28 November 2015;

— Review of Before Rupert : Keith Murdoch and the Birth of a Dynasty Tom D. C. Roberts , 2015 single work biography
Christine Wallace Review of Tom D. C. Roberts, Before Rupert: Keith Murdoch and the Birth of a Dynasty and Paul Strangio, Paul ‘t Hart and James Walter, The Pivot of Power : Australian Prime Ministers and Political Leadership, 1949–2016 Christine Wallace , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Biography and History , April no. 3 2020; (p. 185-190)

— Review of Before Rupert : Keith Murdoch and the Birth of a Dynasty Tom D. C. Roberts , 2015 single work biography
'When Keith Murdoch died in 1952, the Herald and Weekly Times published a  62-page encomium, Keith Murdoch, Journalist. 1 Referred to in house as the ‘Sir Keith Murdoch Tribute Book’, a limited edition of 2,500 copies was published for staff, friends and business associates.2 The brilliant and beneficent Murdoch of the ‘tribute book’—son of Scottish migrants to Melbourne, Rev. Patrick Murdoch and wife Annie (née Brown), and nephew of esteemed Australian academic and essayist Walter Murdoch—was a visionary who built Australia’s first national media empire. It barely mentioned his son, Keith Rupert Murdoch, 21 years old at the time, who seized the patriarch’s news baton and built the world’s most powerful international media empire.' (Introduction)
The Enigma of Keith Murdoch Michael Cannon , 2015 single work review
— Appears in: Inside Story , November 2015;

— Review of Before Rupert : Keith Murdoch and the Birth of a Dynasty Tom D. C. Roberts , 2015 single work biography

'A new biography reveals a complex and contentious figure'

A Privilege Bound with a Responsibility for Accuracy Sandra Symons , 2017 single work column
— Appears in: Sydney PEN Magazine , November 2017; (p. 21)

'A love of biography is driven by the universal hunger to better understand other human lives, according to Dr Peter Cochrane. “It provides us with that sense of how things are for each of us, or indeed for the lives of people we could not begin to imagine but for the biographer’s capacity to recreate the otherness of such people and their social world.”' (Introduction)

UnAuthorised : Commissions, Omissions and Unpublished Books Tom D. C. Roberts , 2018 single work column
— Appears in: Sydney PEN Magazine , November 2018; (p. 29-34)

'Tom D.C. Roberts, winner of last year’s National Biography Award for Before Rupert: Keith Murdoch and the Birth of a Dynasty, delivered this year’s National Biography Award Lecture.'  (Introduction)

Last amended 31 Jul 2017 11:33:51
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