A review by arthuraugustyn
Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue by Ryan Holiday
2.0
Holiday is a good writer but an unbelievably poor person to tell this story. By the second chapter I was noting in the margins whenever Holiday performed editorializing, mind-reading, or flat out bias. I read this book as someone who truly hated Gawker, but even I thought Holiday's shilling for Thiel as a Christlike figure was insane.
The thing to know is at the end of the book, Holiday acknowledges the book only happened because Thiel approached him to write it after Holiday wrote a flowery op-ed favoring Thiel's position after his involvement was revealed. This book was literally commissioned by the subject of its story and I can only assume there was pressure — indirect or otherwise — to make Thiel look good.
The book reads well but is borderline propaganda. Interesting anecdotes from the conspiracy, but I had to take it all with a huge grain of salt.
The thing to know is at the end of the book, Holiday acknowledges the book only happened because Thiel approached him to write it after Holiday wrote a flowery op-ed favoring Thiel's position after his involvement was revealed. This book was literally commissioned by the subject of its story and I can only assume there was pressure — indirect or otherwise — to make Thiel look good.
The book reads well but is borderline propaganda. Interesting anecdotes from the conspiracy, but I had to take it all with a huge grain of salt.