An Untidy Life: What I Saw at the Media Revolution

A brilliantly evocative memoir from the golden age of newspaper publishing, from a man who helped define our modern media.

Les Hinton was 15 when he first worked for Rupert Murdoch, and Murdoch’s “empire” was a single evening newspaper. In the next half century, he travelled the world on the wagon train of his boss’s vast ambition, first as a correspondent, and then as one of his closest aides.

As head of Murdoch companies in newspapers, magazines, and television — including The Wall Street...