The Hearsts

Father and Son

By: William Randolph Hearst Jr., Jack Casserly

Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach

Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's Summary

From San Juan Hill to San Simeon, from Patton's tanks to the Symbionese Liberation Army, the Hearst name has been at the forefront of American life for over a century.

As founder of the largest U.S. prewar media empire, William Randolph Hearst, Sr., forever changed the face of American journalism by using his newspapers to aid in forcing the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. As a public figure he was larger than life, first as ambitious congressman, then as reclusive yet active businessman in the famous castle that rises above the Pacific at San Simeon. The elder Hearst was known for his extravagance as well as his long affair with Marion Davies, images that were highly embellished in Orson Welles' reproach of the Hearst persona, Citizen Kane.

In The Hearsts: Father and Son, William Randolph Hearst, Jr., and co-author Jack Casserly tell the extraordinary story of an American family from the gold-diggings of California to the present Hearst media empire. They also profile a cavalcade of reporters and columnists who became the stars of the Hearst newspapers, and portray the colorful New York nightlife of the 1930s and 1940s.

©1991 William Randolph Hearst, Jr. with Jack Casserly (P)1994 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic Reviews

"Brisk, unpretentious, opinionated." (Publishers Weekly)

Terrible reading

Sorry, I have been to the Hearst Castle several times and was truly looking forward to this book. Unfortunately the reader is the worst I've ever heard. Do yourself a favor and listen to some excerpts first. He reads way to fast and with a completely dispassionate tone.

Excellent story

The content and story are excellent . Very informative, Unfortunately the delivery was not up to par.

Mundane and superficial

This book manages to make an interesting topic thoroughly uninteresting--and if you stick with it, increasingly annoying. The problem is the modest literary ability (even with the help of a co-author) of William Randolph Hearst Jr., a basically boring, uninsightful account of what should have been a fascintating story, and a narrator who does nothing to improve the mundane and superficial narrative. A bad book by a spoiled rich kid who apparently learned very little worth knowing in his 80+ years of life.

Interesting

An interesting view of how someone of wealth views capitalism, speaking mindlessly of their own entightllements.

Good background for your visit

Very detailed and well researched. A bit one sided as it is by his son, but it's only one of many on the Hearst family. Compare and contrast.

A good read, but a little prejudiced

while the story was interesting and it's is worth your time. I feel that Hearst Jr was a little to biased in the superlative way his mother and father were presented. Both in their lives as individuals and as a separated couple. I realize that he wanted to refute the other biographies that have been written about his father, because most of them were not flattering. To me the truth is probably hiding in between this approach and the other biographies. Of course, we all probably want our parents remembered well, just human nature.

Informative and interesting

I can't lie and say Newsies didn't get me interested in the Hearsts - but this book gave so much more insight into the family. I knew some of the big things - Marion Davies, the Journal, most of the family were part of the company in some fashion, Patty's abduction and prison time - but the book goes into so much more detail. The story of the Hearst family is fascinating and I definitely recommend this book for a look inside. It's an oldie, though - early 1990s, I believe - so hearing the narrator talk about how there shouldn't be any more pandemics and racial equality is coming along well was jarring and a bit ironic, but it made me chuckle, all things considered.

The only real issue I had was the narrator. He has a relatively pleasing voice but most of the book was completely monotone, so I never knew where to pause it to ensure I had ended a sentence. There was little inflection in his tone, more like he was reading a science book than an (auto)biography.

Overall, the book is definitely worth the time.

Narrator way to fast!

The narrator makes you feel you have to hurry up and go somewhere. It was not pleasant listening to the narrator, he spoke way too fast and needed some inflection and pause.

Name dropper.

A lot of filler. I would fail college English writing like this. Narrator did well.

Misleading Title

Since the title is called the horses I expected to learn about the Hearst family and hear personal details like any biography. However, it was more about the history of the news business with dates and figures.

I found the content to be dry and the narratior sounded more like computer-generated audio. I couldn’t get through it even when I jumped ahead.

However, if you want to learn about the history of the news business and the notable players over the years, this is the book for you. That’s why I still gave it 3 stars.