Privileged Son: Otis Chandler and the Rise And Fall of the L.A. Times Dynasty - Hardcover

Mcdougal, Dennis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0738202703 ISBN 13: 9780738202709

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 2001

Synopsis

Here is the riveting story of how a second-rate newspaper rose to national greatness, only to become a casualty of war-a civil war within the family that owned it. Told in a hard-edged, investigative style, it spans the American Century, from 1884, when the Chandler family gained control of the just-born daily, through April 2000, when they sold it to the Tribune Company. Above all, Privileged Son chronicles the life of Otis Chandler, the Times' chief architect after 1960, whose flamboyant exploits in and out of the publisher's suite changed the perspective of the newspaper, and Los Angeles, forever.Using scores of insider sources, Dennis McDougal, the best-selling author of The Last Mogul, will surprise readers with his findings, including accounts of political graft and early mob connections among one of L.A.'s most prominent families. The Chandlers, who helped establish the national careers of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and several other major political figures, controlled Los Angeles and the Times Mirror Corporation with a capriciousness that is seldom seen, even in the most dysfunctional media dynasties.Privileged Son is a thoroughly compelling page-burner that will keep readers engaged from its opening paragraphs. But it is also a numbing morality tale that extends far beyond Otis Chandler to highlight the greed that brought down one of America's richest family dynasties and one of its most prominent newspapers.

About this title

About the Author

Dennis McDougal was named by the New York Times as "L.A.'s number one muckraker." An investigative reporter for the Los Angles Times for more than a decade, he has written on media and entertainment throughout his career. He is author of the bestselling The Last Mogul: Lew Wasserman, MCA, and the Hidden History of Hollywood (see page 148), and the critically acclaimed In the Best of Families, which was nominated for an Edgar Award. Over the years, his journalism has won him more than fifty honors, including the National Headliners Award and several Associated Press awards. He lives in Long Beach, California.

Reviews

Though he tells more about the sometimes shady dynasty than about the newspaper, McDougal (author of The Last Mogul, about Lew Wasserman and MCA), an L.A. Times reporter, renders protagonist Otis Chandler, last of the family dynasty to run the Times, overly enigmatic. Dynasty founder Harrison Otis and son-in-law Harry Chandler played crucial roles in transforming L.A. from a remote outpost of 12,500 to a metropolis of millions. The Times's free Mid-Winter Edition began promoting Southern California to Easterners four years before the first Rose Parade; Otis campaigned for L.A.'s harbor and against unions; he and Chandler spearheaded the plundering of Owens Valley's water. Chandler's real estate ventures stretched from the San Fernando Valley to Mexico; he launched business ventures ranging from the Hollywood Bowl, L.A. Coliseum, landmark hotels and the 1932 Olympics to the local oil, auto, aerospace, fashion and movie industries and Cal Tech, which trained people for technological industries. Chandler's son Norman ran the Times while his wife Dorothy's fund-raising built the L.A. Music Center. Both broke ranks with the family's extreme right-wing politics, and Norman's son Otis, who took the paper's reins in 1960, transformed it from a disrespected, business-boosting propaganda rag to one of the most respected papers in the nation. McDougal inadequately explains Otis's ouster and subsequent ambivalence as the Times floundered under leaders portrayed as insular, incompetent and mendacious, as well as his 60-something second adolescence of fast cars and big surf. McDougal paints the family members as larger-than-life personalities, rather than treating them in context as L.A. grew beyond their control. Fascinating stories abound here, but Chandler and family are mythologized rather than analyzed. 16 pages b&w photos not seen by PW.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

The New York Times has called McDougal (The Last Mogul) "LA's number one muckraker," and he successfully defends that title with his latest book. More than a biography of Otis Chandler, the last of the Chandler family to hold the position of publisher for the Times Mirror media conglomerate before it was sold to the Tribune Company, this work is an exhaustive history of the Los Angeles Times, four generations of the Chandler family, and both institutions' influence on the development of Los Angeles and all of Southern California. It is also an account of how the Times changed its editorial philosophy and content over the years. McDougal stuffs this book with details designed to heighten the drama of the story. He doesn't always make clear what his sources are, so the reader has to guess how he knows that Harry Chandler "nodded" when a young aviator informed him that he needed $15,000 for a business venture. However, readers who enjoy tell-all epic tales of powerful families will not mind such embellishments. Recommended for all journalism collections, especially those in the Los Angeles area; also suitable for business and biography collections. Cheryl Van Til, Kent Dist. Lib., Spencer Branch, Gowen, MI
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

McDougal, a former investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times, turns his considerable skills to an examination of his former employer. On one level, this is a history of the newspaper that transformed Southern California from water-starved municipal wanna-be to world-class metropolis; on another level, it's a four-generation family biography. The most outsized of all the outsized characters is Otis Chandler, born in 1927. His great-grandfather, grandfather, father, and mother had turned the Los Angeles Times into a journalistically awful but highly profitable and influential daily newspaper. Chandler, a motorcycle-riding, surfing, bodybuilding hunk of a man with a serious side, wanted to challenge the New York Times as the nation's preeminent general circulation daily. Although often faltering, he came close to his goal before family fissures led to the dissolution of the parent company during the 1990s. McDougal concludes with coverage of how the Chicago Tribune company took over the Los Angeles Times and its multimedia conglomerate last year. Part business saga, part regional history, part family soap opera, always compellingly readable, McDougal's book seamlessly connects the past and the present. Steve Weinberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0738202703
• ISBN 13: 9780738202709
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 544