Conspiracy

A True Story of Power, Sex, and a Billionaire's Secret Plot to Destroy a Media Empire

By: Ryan Holiday

Narrated by: Ryan Holiday

Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

An NPR Book Concierge best book of 2018!

A stunning story about how power works in the modern age - the book the New York Times called "one helluva page-turner" and The Sunday Times of London celebrated as "riveting...an astonishing modern media conspiracy that is a fantastic read." Pick up the book everyone is talking about.

In 2007, a short blogpost on Valleywag, the Silicon Valley vertical of Gawker Media, outed PayPal founder and billionaire investor Peter Thiel as gay. Thiel's sexuality had been known to close friends and family, but he didn't consider himself a public figure, and believed the information was private.

This post would be the casus belli for a meticulously plotted conspiracy that would end nearly a decade later with a $140 million dollar judgment against Gawker, its bankruptcy and with Nick Denton, Gawker's CEO and founder, out of a job. Only later would the world learn that Gawker's demise was not incidental - it had been masterminded by Thiel.

For years, Thiel had searched endlessly for a solution to what he'd come to call the "Gawker Problem". When an unmarked envelope delivered an illegally recorded sex tape of Hogan with his best friend's wife, Gawker had seen the chance for millions of page views and to say the things that others were afraid to say. Thiel saw their publication of the tape as the opportunity he was looking for. He would come to pit Hogan against Gawker in a multi-year proxy war through the Florida legal system, while Gawker remained confidently convinced they would prevail as they had over so many other lawsuit - until it was too late.

The verdict would stun the world and so would Peter's ultimate unmasking as the man who had set it all in motion. Why had he done this? How had no one discovered it? What would this mean - for the First Amendment? For privacy? For culture?

In Holiday's masterful telling of this nearly unbelievable conspiracy, informed by interviews with all the key players, this case transcends the narrative of how one billionaire took down a media empire or the current state of the free press. It's a study in power, strategy, and one of the most wildly ambitious - and successful - secret plots in recent memory.

Some will cheer Gawker's destruction and others will lament it, but after listening to this audiobook - and seeing the access the author was given - no one will deny that there is something ruthless and brilliant about Peter Thiel's shocking attempt to shake up the world.

©2018 Ryan Holiday (P)2018 Penguin Audio

An excellent story

holiday does a masterful job of retelling the story in a way that helps the reader and the modern American understand a real life conspiracy.

Very Interesting

Ryan Holiday does a great job of laying out the situation in an easy to read story that captivates the reader/listener. I was un-aware of this case and didn't see the reason to care about it until a friend recommended the book as a must read/listen and I couldn't agree more. Ryan Holiday connects the actions that played out to how it effects free speech and media rights as well as individuals' right to privacy.

Slow talker good book

The book was great and Holliday is an excellent writer but his narration was too slow and full of pauses in strange places. Recommend you play it at 1.2x speed

Fascinating

I learned a lot from this book, and it was entertaining, like a novella. I'm not sure what else you could want from a book.

Engaging and Thought Provoking.

An in depth investigation into Peter Thiel's conspiracy against Gawker media. Ryan Holiday does a great job of guiding the reader through the whole process, allowing a window into the thought process of both the conspirators, and their opponents.

Fascinating

I don't normally mow through an audio book like I did this one. A fair minded and attention grabbing account. Definitely recommended

poor cadence

the cadence of the reader made it hard to keep up. despite being narrated by the author, the pauses made it hard to comprehend a while thought.

choppy narration

very difficult listen because of the lack of flow in narrators reading style even at higher speed

Can’t wait to read it

When I am away from this book, something pulls me back to it. The message rings in my head and my ego and I are better in tune because of the therapy I receive from Ryan. Thanks again Ryan.

Colossal. Conspiracy brews...

I have to admit I didn't expect this kind of book from Ryan Holiday. But I am positively surprised, and I liked the theme of the book.
The narration progresses powerfully, each step adding more flavor to the consumation of events about which we know before we even start listening, and even then, one is hooked till the end.
The story is fascinating, the characters are complex. The good / bad guys are nowhere to be found: it is up to the listener's interpretation and judgement.