Book Review: Den of Thieves.

Here's another James B. Stewart tome from yesteryear with implications for today's Presidential campaign.

In Den of Thieves, Stewart explored the insider trading scandals of the late 1980s.

Guess which candidate enters this story.....Rudy Guiliani.

At the time, Guiliani served as associate attorney general. He prosecuted with the US Department of Justice in Manhattan. He "brought to the office what many perceived as a Catholic, even Jesuitical view of the world, one marked by clear divisions between right and wrong, friend and enemy. He seemed to equate crime with sin, punishment with penance, cooperation with repentance." (p. 248.)

Another feature of Guiliani: fearlessness. "'I'm not in this job to do the safe thing,' he said in 1986. 'If you never try to accomplish anything, you never fail. I'd rather fail.'" (p. 248.)

The book explored Guiliani's legal strategies, especially how he used plea deals to "squeeze" them into testifying against other, and usually, "higher" targets. No doubt Guiliani played hardball, and not just with those he was prosecuting.

Den of Thieves delved into greed, its causes and effects. It showed how white-collar criminals lived very large, and then were cut down by the legal system and otherwise. Moreover, it analyzed the life-changing psychological ramifications of such a precipitous fall.

For example, "Now that it had come to this, Siegel was amazed at how little he cared about the money. When he'd been earning a six-figure income, money had seemed important--but it had never been enough to confer the elusive sense of security he craved. Now he was ruined no matter how much money he had. So what did it matter if he had none at all?" (p. 305.)

Ordering the James B. Stewart "trilogy" reviewed here, I recommend DisneyWar, then Den of Thieves and finally Blood Sport.

Book Review: Blood Sport by James B. Stewart.

Blood Sport is simultaneously antiquated and timely.

It's antiquated because it hit bookstores over ten years ago. In this time, much history has been written. With the benefit of hindsight, the reader today knows chapters penned after Blood Sport's 1996 publication. Stewart even seems to confess this likelihood: "In the absence of the full report of the independent counsel, which is not expected until after the next presidential election [November, 1996], I believe this to be a comprehensive account of these events. In my view, it is this information that permits us to make sense of what is unfolding now. I hope readers will find this book makes clear what is happening, and why. And I trust they will agree that this story isn't as arcane, and confusing as those involved would have us believe." (p. 10.)

For example, Stewart discusses then-newly appointed special prosecutor Ken Starr. "Starr vowed to be fair and impartial, but thorough. While his investigation is no doubt upending life for many in Arkansas--as would any criminal investigation as wide-ranging in scope--there hasn't been any public indication of prosecutorial misconduct or partisan zeal." (p. 424; emphasis added.) Some might dispute this opinion, disguised as a declaratory sentence, today.

Also, Bernie Nussbaum, then-counsel to President Clinton, argued unsuccessfully against appointing an independent counsel for the Whitewater matter. "'But this is about Whitewater,' someone called out. 'No,' Nussbaum replied. 'This will be a roving searchlight.'...'They will chase you, your family and friends through your presidency and beyond.'" (p. 374; emphasis added.)

Nussbaum contended: "The institution of the independant counsel 'is evil,' he said. 'Not because of the people, but no matter how saintly they are, there is enormous pressure to come up with something. ... It's dangerous. It has a dynamic." (p. 374.)

Nussbaum was prescient in the sense the investigation took on a life of its own and traveled into areas far beyond the original appointment. Ultimately, the special prosecutor/independent counsel law was scrapped. Even political polar opposites concurred on this point. From Justice Antonin Scalia to Bernie Nussbaum, the consensus was to eliminate it, although they may have disagreed as to the rationale therefor.

It's timely because it provides considerable insight into Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is currently running for President. There is renewed interest in the Clintons, as evidenced by two new books on the Clintons. I predict this focus will engender interest in this "old" book. Just last week, I saw Ms. Clinton's communications director addressing questions about events contained within this text.

Blood Sport's title is a play on words from Vince Foster's note written shortly before his suicide: "I was not meant for the job or the spotlight of public life in Washington. Here ruining people is considered sport." (p. 283.)

The book opens with Foster's death as its "hook," but in the final analysis this event does not govern or even adequately set the stage for the 400-plus pages that follow. It's not a "murder mystery" or a "suicide mystery" for that matter.

To the contrary, Blood Sport sings as a character study. One of the most interesting figures portrayed within its pages is James McDougal. While he too has since died, he lived a fascinating, full life, including as a college professor in a Baptist college, a political "kingmaker" of sorts, a savings and loan owner, a real estate impresario, and candidate.

"McDougal[ ] didn't live lavishly. ... Jim seemed indifferent to most of the trappings of wealth, but he loved clothes and cars, especially Mercedes. He'd had one of the first diesel-powered Mercedes in Arkansas. He also had a Jeep, which he abandoned after backing hard into a gas pump, smashing both the car and the pump, spewing gasoline. The gas station attendant had been apoplectic when McDougal got out of the car and casually lit a cigarette." (p. 43.)

In another amusing McDougal anecdote, Stewart wrote: "While driving to work with one of his close friends, future Arkansas governor Jim Guy Tucker, he managed to beach a car on the dividing strip of North University Street in Little Rock, stopping traffic during rush hour. McDougal was unfazed, chatting with Tucker as though nothing had happened. 'Don't get out and look around, giving everyone the satisfaction of seeing what an idiot you've been,' he told his passenger. 'Don't worry. Somebody will come and take care of this.' (Someone did.)" (p. 43-44.)

The book gets bogged down when it tries to unravel "Whitewater." Originally a land-deal involving the Clintons and McDougals, this so-called scandal brings to mind the famous Gertrude Stein quote, "There is no there there." While Ms. Stein said this about Oakland, California, it applies here with equal force.

Having also reviewed DisneyWar Stewart's more recent effort (see May 2, 2007 post: http://lawreligionculturereview.blogspot.com/2007/05/book-review-disneywar.html), I found DisneyWar to be a more focused and entertaining read. Blood Sport meandered at times, and thus, took reader discipline to forge ahead.

Recommended for political junkies, especially those wanting special insight into the next presidential election.

Book Review: DisneyWar.

I arrived late to this party.

Published in 2005, I have just discovered and then devoured James B. Stewart's 534 page tome, DisneyWar. I have just discovered James B. Stewart for that matter. A recovering attorney, Stewart has been distinguishing himself for many years authoring such best-selling, investigative works as Den of Thieves and Blood Sport. Stewart leverages his legal training as he skillfully sifts through legal issues and maneuvers, and reports them in a simplified, yet accurate fashion.

While I had followed Disney's corporate affairs with a detached bemusement in newspapers, this expansive book pealed back the curtains to take the reader inside Disney, the corporation.

Among many other things, Stewart explored Jeffrey Katzenberg's lawsuit against Disney, the shareholder derivative action over Michael Ovitz's severance, the effort to unseat Michael Eisner as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (spearheaded by Roy Disney), and decisions to "greenlight" or pass on various entertainment properties, such as television shows and movies. The common denominator in each was Eisner.

Ironically, Eisner agreed to cooperate with Stewart and to give him access to Disney and its executives. Stewart even got to portray one of the costumed characters (Goofy) at one of the company's amusement parks. Stewart however felt free to repay this ostensible beneficence with a scathing indictment of Eisner, especially his grasping at the end of his tenure to control his "disenchanted kingdom."

Some samples:

"Beginning with the lavish, even reckless overspending on Euro Disney, and continuing with the poorly planned and executed foray into the Internet, and perhaps worst of all, the acquisition of the Fox Family cable network--each of which is a more than $1 billion mistake--Eisner squandered Disney's assets. Even one blunder of that magnitude, let alone three, might have cost a chief executive his job at any public company that was acting in the interests of its shareholders and had any meaningful board oversight. This is even before considering the exit of Jeffrey Katzenberg, the failure to honor his contract, and the hiring and firing of Michael Ovitz, personnel and judgment errors which, in the cost to Disney and the vitriol and publicity they generated, are without parallel in American business history." (p. 530)

Ouch; that's gonna leave a mark.

"And even Eisner's vaunted creativity--clearly the attribute that he himself holds most dear--seems to to have been in eclipse. There have been some recent successes, such as Pirates of the Caribbean, but even there, Eisner criticized Johnny Depp's teeth and effeminate demeanor. The animation unit as been devastated and is a shadow of its former self, overshadowed by Pixar and DreamWorks. The film studio has never again duplicated the string of hits during the early years under Eisner and Katzenberg. Eisner dismissed Finding Nemo, and Disney sold off most of the rights to Sixth Sense. Eisner criticized 'Lost', ABC's first breakout hit in years. Although he insists on being judged only by what he has done, and not what he has failed to do, the hit projects he rejected, from 'CSI' to Lord of the Rings and Fahrenheit 9/11 loom large." (p. 530.)

Because Disney is a corporation as well as a content-provider Stewart assesses Eisner's management abilities. "[Eisner's] management failures include an inability to delegate, a frequent mistrust of subordinates, impulsive and uncritical judgments, his pitting of one executive against another, his disrespect for any hierarchy of authority other than his own, his encouragement of a culture of spying and back-channeling, his frequent failure to acknowledge the achievement of others, and above all, his inability to groom a successor...." (p. 532.)

In turn, Stewart posits that this led to an exodus of management talent from Disney, which reads like a "Who's-Who" list of American corporate executives: "[T]he roster of Disney alumni either fired, forced to resign, or who left of their own initiative and who now occupy important posts elsewhere in corporate American is also unparalleled...." (Id.)

Reading Stewart's prose is much like parting butter with a warm knife. Stewart's masterfully paces his nonfiction books much like break-neck fiction--replete with dialogue and action. It's a cliche but DisneyWar was nearly impossible to put down. Immediately after I finished the book, I set out to find another book--almost any book--written by Stewart. Concordantly, I am reading Blood Sport (about Clintons' Whitewater matter), and find the same trademark Stewartian textual flourishes.

Highly recommended.