Description:

A New York Times–bestselling author’s “superbly reported” account of the dismantling of the world’s largest corporation (The Washington Post).

Written by the two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Ghost Wars and Private Empire, The Deal of the Century chronicles the decade-long war for control of AT&T.

When the US Department of Justice brought an antitrust lawsuit against AT&T in 1974, the telecommunications giant held a monopoly on phone service throughout the country. Over the following decade, an army of lawyers, executives, politicians, and judges spent countless hours clashing over what amounted to the biggest corporate breakup in American history. From boardroom to courtroom, Steve Coll untangles the myriad threads of this complex and critical case and gives readers “an excellent behind-the-scenes look” at the human drama involved in the remaking of an entire industry (The Philadelphia Inquirer).

Hailed by the New York Times Book Review as “rich, intricate and convincing,” The Deal of the Century is the definitive narrative of a momentous turning point in the way America does business.

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Review

“Colorful and telling . . . Rich, intricate and convincing . . . This is a wonderful book. . . . An edifying account of a seminal antitrust case, The Deal of the Century also manages to be a moving story.” —The New York Times Book Review

“This is the story of how the bad guys finally lost. . . . Superbly reported and smoothly written.” —The Washington Post

“An excellent behind-the-scenes look—exposing warts on both sides of the case—at the legal wranglings between AT&T and the government.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Read this book and learn how the world works.” —Andrew Tobias, bestselling author of The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need

“Crafted with color and drama . . . Hard to put down.” —Library Journal

“Admirably balanced and consistently engrossing . . . A near-definitive reconstruction of this consequential conflict.” —Kirkus Reviews

“This exposé lends welcome clarity to the mass confusion that accompanied the divestment of AT&T. . . . Coll’s penetrating analysis of this shameful courtroom and boardroom drama evidences the fact that both the general public and the judiciary were exploited and duped by all factions.” —Booklist

About the Author

Steve Coll is a staff writer at the New Yorker, the dean of the Columbia Journalism School, and the bestselling author of seven books. Previously he served as president of the New America Foundation and worked for two decades at the Washington Post, where he won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism for a four-part series on the Securities and Exchange Commission during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. The award-winning series became the basis for Eagle on the Street (1991), coauthored with David A. Vise. Coll’s other books include New York Times Notable Book The Deal of the Century (1998); Ghost Wars (2004), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction; The Bin Ladens (2009), winner of the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction; and Private Empire (2012), winner of the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award.