"The Deal From Hell" sounds like a must-read

Next week I will be back in the U.S., and I'm headed for a bookstore (paper, by the way). The book is called "The Deal From Hell: How Moguls and Wall Street Plundered Great American Newspapers." It's the story of how disaster overcame two once-formidable American newspapers, the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. I read a great story in the New York Times that summarized the book, and I can hardly wait.

The book is written by James O'Shea, former editor of the Los Angeles Times, which started the decline with its sale to the Tribune Company. O'Shea details the problems, not only the sheer incompetence of the people put in charge of the new company by outsider Sam Zell who bought out the Tribune Company with a highly-leveraged buyout deal. Who are the baddest of the bad guys? Why the bankers, of course.

Read this, then wait for the book.