With a new book – and a new lawsuit – Black is on fighting form, says edward helmore |
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If anyone expected Conrad Black to prepare for his date with US prosecutors in Chicago next month in humble contemplation, they would be wrong. The gregarious former press baron has issued a writ for libel against British biographer Tom Bower and his publisher HarperCollins, seeking $10m in damages. And on the home front, he's preparing for the May publication of his own latest book, The Invisible Quest: The Life of Richard Milhous Nixon.
Choosing to publish the book in the middle of his trial on fraud and racketeering charges may not help his case with jurors, but it's certainly no coincidence that a press baron who believes he's misunderstood would choose a subject whose failings of character undermined his evident achievements.
The word in Toronto is that the Nixon book is very good. Black met and interviewed ‘Tricky Dicky’ on several occasions and is |
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| Choosing to publish his book on Richard Nixon in the middle of his trial may not help Black’s case with jurors |
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friends with figures in the disgraced Cold War President's administration, such as Alexander Haig and Henry Kissinger.
"Conrad likes to write about figures who he believes have been misunderstood or misinterpreted and to put his own spin on them," explains his personal lawyer Michael Levine. "The Richard Nixon here is a far more nuanced and balanced portrait than a caricature of a right-wing crazy."
Lord Black of Crossharbour, whose last book was a well-received biography of FDR, wrote the 720-page Nixon biography over the past 18 months. "He has a great capacity for compartmentalising," notes Canadian editor and friend Ken Whyte, "and he would have been writing this book regardless of his business affairs." Black’s publisher, Doug Pepper at McClelland & Stewart, says it’s written in the 19th century style. "It's like Conrad ... big, well-written and doesn't get bogged down."
Black's friends do not dispute symmetry in his choice of subject. "People will draw their own conclusions but there is certainly a  |
