Listen free for 30 days
-
Unscripted
- The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $29.14
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
You may also enjoy...
-
DisneyWar
- Written by: James B. Stewart
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 25 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
DisneyWar is an enthralling tale of one of America's most powerful media and entertainment companies, the people who control it, and those trying to overthrow them. It tells a story that - in its sudden twists, vivid, larger-than-life characters, and thrilling climax - might itself have been the subject of a Disney classic - except that it's all true.
-
-
Wonderful at contextualizing my childhood
- By Julia MacLennan on 2021-06-08
Written by: James B. Stewart
-
Dead in the Water
- A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy
- Written by: Matthew Campbell, Kit Chellel
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In July 2011, the oil tanker Brillante Virtuoso was drifting through the treacherous Gulf of Aden when a crew of pirates attacked and set her ablaze in a devastating explosion. But when David Mockett, a maritime surveyor working for Lloyd’s of London, inspected the damaged vessel, he was left with more questions than answers. How had the pirates gotten aboard so easily? And if they wanted to steal the ship and bargain for its return, then why did they destroy it? The questions didn’t add up—and Mockett would never answer them.
-
-
Crazy interesting
- By patrick on 2023-11-29
Written by: Matthew Campbell, and others
-
Collision of Power
- Trump, Bezos, and the Washington Post
- Written by: Martin Baron
- Narrated by: Liev Schreiber
- Length: 16 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marty Baron took charge of The Washington Post newsroom in 2013, after nearly a dozen years leading The Boston Globe. Just seven months into his new job, Baron received explosive news: Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, would buy the Post, marking a sudden end to control by the venerated family that had presided over the paper for 80 years. Just over two years later, Donald Trump won the presidency.
-
-
Washington Post and print media in transition
- By CSUE on 2023-11-06
Written by: Martin Baron
-
Sideways
- The City Google Couldn't Buy
- Written by: Josh O'Kane
- Narrated by: Ian Lake
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the Globe and Mail tech reporter who revealed countless controversies while following the Sidewalk Labs fiasco in Toronto comes an uncompromising investigation into the bigger story and what the Google sister company's failure there reveals about Big Tech, data privacy and the monetization of everything.
Written by: Josh O'Kane
-
Power Failure
- The Rise and Fall of an American Icon
- Written by: William D. Cohan
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 28 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No company embodied American ingenuity, innovation, and industrial power more spectacularly and more consistently than the General Electric Company. GE once developed and manufactured many of the inventions we take for granted today, nearly everything from the lightbulb to the jet engine. GE also built a cult of financial and leadership success envied across the globe and became the world’s most valuable and most admired company. But even at the height of its prestige and influence, cracks were forming in its formidable foundation.
Written by: William D. Cohan
-
Rogers v. Rogers
- The Battle for Control of Canada's Telecom Empire
- Written by: Alexandra Posadzki
- Narrated by: Emily Nixon
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alexandra Posadzki’s ground-breaking coverage in the Globe and Mail exposed one of the most spectacular boardroom and family dramas in Canadian corporate history—one that has pitted the company’s extraordinarily powerful chairman and controlling shareholder, Edward Rogers, against not only his own management team but also the wishes of his mother and two of his sisters. Posadzki takes us inside a company that touches the lives of millions of Canadians, challenging what we thought we knew about corporate governance and who really holds the power.
-
-
Wish it was better
- By meh on 2024-03-02
Written by: Alexandra Posadzki
-
DisneyWar
- Written by: James B. Stewart
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 25 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
DisneyWar is an enthralling tale of one of America's most powerful media and entertainment companies, the people who control it, and those trying to overthrow them. It tells a story that - in its sudden twists, vivid, larger-than-life characters, and thrilling climax - might itself have been the subject of a Disney classic - except that it's all true.
-
-
Wonderful at contextualizing my childhood
- By Julia MacLennan on 2021-06-08
Written by: James B. Stewart
-
Dead in the Water
- A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy
- Written by: Matthew Campbell, Kit Chellel
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In July 2011, the oil tanker Brillante Virtuoso was drifting through the treacherous Gulf of Aden when a crew of pirates attacked and set her ablaze in a devastating explosion. But when David Mockett, a maritime surveyor working for Lloyd’s of London, inspected the damaged vessel, he was left with more questions than answers. How had the pirates gotten aboard so easily? And if they wanted to steal the ship and bargain for its return, then why did they destroy it? The questions didn’t add up—and Mockett would never answer them.
-
-
Crazy interesting
- By patrick on 2023-11-29
Written by: Matthew Campbell, and others
-
Collision of Power
- Trump, Bezos, and the Washington Post
- Written by: Martin Baron
- Narrated by: Liev Schreiber
- Length: 16 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marty Baron took charge of The Washington Post newsroom in 2013, after nearly a dozen years leading The Boston Globe. Just seven months into his new job, Baron received explosive news: Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, would buy the Post, marking a sudden end to control by the venerated family that had presided over the paper for 80 years. Just over two years later, Donald Trump won the presidency.
-
-
Washington Post and print media in transition
- By CSUE on 2023-11-06
Written by: Martin Baron
-
Sideways
- The City Google Couldn't Buy
- Written by: Josh O'Kane
- Narrated by: Ian Lake
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the Globe and Mail tech reporter who revealed countless controversies while following the Sidewalk Labs fiasco in Toronto comes an uncompromising investigation into the bigger story and what the Google sister company's failure there reveals about Big Tech, data privacy and the monetization of everything.
Written by: Josh O'Kane
-
Power Failure
- The Rise and Fall of an American Icon
- Written by: William D. Cohan
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 28 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No company embodied American ingenuity, innovation, and industrial power more spectacularly and more consistently than the General Electric Company. GE once developed and manufactured many of the inventions we take for granted today, nearly everything from the lightbulb to the jet engine. GE also built a cult of financial and leadership success envied across the globe and became the world’s most valuable and most admired company. But even at the height of its prestige and influence, cracks were forming in its formidable foundation.
Written by: William D. Cohan
-
Rogers v. Rogers
- The Battle for Control of Canada's Telecom Empire
- Written by: Alexandra Posadzki
- Narrated by: Emily Nixon
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alexandra Posadzki’s ground-breaking coverage in the Globe and Mail exposed one of the most spectacular boardroom and family dramas in Canadian corporate history—one that has pitted the company’s extraordinarily powerful chairman and controlling shareholder, Edward Rogers, against not only his own management team but also the wishes of his mother and two of his sisters. Posadzki takes us inside a company that touches the lives of millions of Canadians, challenging what we thought we knew about corporate governance and who really holds the power.
-
-
Wish it was better
- By meh on 2024-03-02
Written by: Alexandra Posadzki
-
The Fund
- Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend
- Written by: Rob Copeland
- Narrated by: Rob Copeland, Will Damron
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ray Dalio does not want you to listen to this audiobook. Late last year, when the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund on the planet, announced that he was stepping down from the company he started out of his apartment nearly 50 years ago, the news made headlines around the world. Dalio cultivated an aura of international admiration and fame thanks to his company’s eye-popping success, coupled with a mystique he encouraged with frequent media appearances, celebrity hobnobbing, and his bestselling book, Principles.
-
-
Mind-blowing masterpiece
- By mittehboyenj on 2024-03-12
Written by: Rob Copeland
-
Butler to the World
- The Book the Oligarchs Don't Want You to Read - How Britain Helps the World's Worst People Launder Money, Commit Crimes, and Get Away with Anything
- Written by: Oliver Bullough
- Narrated by: Oliver Bullough
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Suez Crisis of 1956 was the nadir of Britain's twentieth century, the moment when the once-superpower was bullied into retreat. "Great Britain has lost an empire and not yet found a role," said Dean Acherson, a former US secretary of state. Acheson's line has entered into the canon of great quotations: but it was wrong. Britain had already found a role. The leaders of the world just hadn't noticed it yet. Butler to the World reveals how Britain came to assume its role as the center of the offshore economy.
-
-
The most frustrating and best read in a while.
- By Jeffrey L on 2023-06-28
Written by: Oliver Bullough
-
Breaking Twitter
- Elon Musk and the Most Controversial Corporate Takeover in History
- Written by: Ben Mezrich
- Narrated by: Will Collyer
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
BREAKING TWITTER takes readers inside the darkly comic battle between one of the most intriguing, polarizing, influential men of our time—Elon Musk—and the company that represents our culture’s dearest hope for a shared global conversation. From employee accounts within Twitter headquarters to the mission-driven team Musk surrounded himself with, this is the full story from all sides.
-
-
Writing style was interesting.
- By MyPublicName on 2024-01-29
Written by: Ben Mezrich
-
Secret Life
- The Jian Ghomeshi Investigation
- Written by: Kevin Donovan
- Narrated by: David Marantz
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It began as rumors. Whispers at dinner parties. Warnings about bad dates with a Canadian celebrity. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, superstar CBC broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi revealed his interest in "rough sex" in a long Facebook post, and a scandal of unprecedented scale descended on the radio host. What the public did not know was that months before Ghomeshi's emotional post, Canadaland podcaster Jesse Brown and Toronto Star journalist Kevin Donovan were quietly pursuing serious allegations against him.
-
-
Riviting!
- By KLM on 2021-08-30
Written by: Kevin Donovan
-
Going Infinite
- The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
- Written by: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side? In Going Infinite Lewis sets out to answer this question, taking listeners into the mind of Bankman-Fried.
-
-
He loves SBF too much
- By Samuel Carvalho on 2023-10-07
Written by: Michael Lewis
-
Oscar Wars
- A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears
- Written by: Michael Schulman
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
- Length: 21 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Oscar Wars, Michael Schulman chronicles the remarkable, sprawling history of the Academy Awards and the personal dramas—some iconic, others never-before-revealed—that have played out on the stage and off camera. Unlike other books on the subject, each chapter takes a deep dive into a particular year, conflict, or even category that tells a larger story of cultural change, from Louis B. Mayer to Moonlight. Schulman examines how the red carpet runs through contested turf, and the victors aren't always as clear as the names drawn from envelopes.
-
-
Fascinating
- By Amazon Customer on 2024-01-15
Written by: Michael Schulman
-
When McKinsey Comes to Town
- The Hidden Influence of the World's Most Powerful Consulting Firm
- Written by: Walt Bogdanich, Michael Forsythe
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In When McKinsey Comes to Town, two prizewinning investigative journalists have written a portrait of the company sharply at odds with its public image. Bogdanich and Forsythe have penetrated the veil of secrecy surrounding McKinsey by conducting hundreds of interviews, obtaining tens of thousands of revelatory documents, and following rule #1 of investigative reporting: Follow the money. When McKinsey Comes to Town is a a devastating portrait of a firm whose work has often made the world more unequal, more corrupt, and more dangerous.
-
-
Compelling
- By Skigirl on 2023-07-25
Written by: Walt Bogdanich, and others
-
It's Not TV
- The Spectacular Rise, Revolution, and Future of HBO
- Written by: Felix Gillette, John Koblin
- Narrated by: Steven Jay Cohen
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
HBO changed how stories could be told on TV. The Sopranos, Sex and the City, The Wire, Game of Thrones. The network’s meteoric rise heralded the second golden age of television with serialized shows that examined and reflected American anxieties, fears, and secret passions through complicated characters who were flawed and often unlikable.
Written by: Felix Gillette, and others
-
The Big Con
- How the Consulting Industry Weakens Our Businesses, Infantilizes Our Governments, and Warps Our Economies
- Written by: Mariana Mazzucato, Rosie Collington
- Narrated by: Amy Finegan
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There is an entrenched relationship between the consulting industry and the way business and government are managed today that must change. Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington show that our economies’ reliance on companies such as McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company, PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, and EY stunts innovation, obfuscates corporate and political accountability, and impedes our collective mission of halting climate breakdown. Mazzucato and Collington argue for building a new system in which public and private sectors work innovatively for the common good.
Written by: Mariana Mazzucato, and others
-
Like, Comment, Subscribe
- How YouTube Conquered the World
- Written by: Mark Bergen
- Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Across the world, people watch more than a billion hours of video on YouTube every day. Every minute, more than five hundred additional hours of footage are uploaded to the site, a technical feat unmatched in the history of computing. YouTube invented the attention economy we all live in today, forever changing how people are entertained, informed, and paid online. Everyone knows YouTube. And yet virtually no one knows how it works.
-
-
A Super Detailed History
- By Andrew on 2022-10-20
Written by: Mark Bergen
-
Rogues
- True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks
- Written by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Length: 15 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Pain and Say Nothing—and one of the most decorated journalists of our time—twelve enthralling stories of skulduggery and intrigue.
-
-
Great voice and interesting stories
- By Lana Hergott on 2023-03-31
Written by: Patrick Radden Keefe
-
Palo Alto
- A History of California, Capitalism, and the World
- Written by: Malcolm Harris
- Narrated by: Patrick Harrison
- Length: 28 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In PALO ALTO, the first comprehensive, global history of Silicon Valley, Malcolm Harris examines how and why Northern California evolved in the particular, consequential way it did, tracing the ideologies, technologies, and policies that have been engineered there over the course of 150 years of Anglo settler colonialism, from IQ tests to the "tragedy of the commons," racial genetics, and "broken windows" theory.
-
-
Fantastic
- By Carl Gonsalves on 2023-06-26
Written by: Malcolm Harris
Publisher's Summary
The instant New York Times bestseller • A New York Times Notable Book • Named a Best Book of the Year by The Economist • Nominated for the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award
"Addicted to Succession? Well, here's the real thing."—The Hollywood Reporter
“Jaw-dropping . . . an epic tale of toxic wealth and greed populated by connivers and manipulators.”—The New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice
The shocking inside story of the struggle for power and control at Paramount Global, the multibillion-dollar entertainment empire controlled by the Redstone family, and the dysfunction, misconduct, and deceit that threatened the future of the company, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists who first broke the news
In 2016, the fate of Paramount Global’s entertainment empire hung precariously in the balance. Its founder and head, ninety-three-year-old Sumner M. Redstone, was facing a very public lawsuit brought by a former romantic companion, Manuela Herzer, which placed Sumner’s deteriorating health and questionable judgment under a harsh light.
As an all-powerful media mogul, Sumner had been a demanding boss, and an even more demanding father. When his daughter, Shari, took control of the business, she faced the hostility of boards who for years had heard Sumner disparage her. Les Moonves, the CEO of CBS, schemed with his allies on the board to strip Shari of power. But while he publicly battled Shari, news began to leak of Moonves’s involvement in multiple instances of sexual misconduct, and he began working behind the scenes to try to make the stories disappear.
Unscripted is an explosive and unvarnished look at the usually secret inner workings of two public companies, their boards of directors, and a wealthy, dysfunctional family in the throes of seismic changes. From the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams, Unscripted lays bare the battle for power at any price—and the carnage that ensued.
What the critics say
"Redstone has found his Ishmael in James B. Stewart, who has ventured once more into the corporate depths and returned, he writes, with ‘an astonishing saga of sex, lies, and betrayal.’ His new book, Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy, written with New York Times media reporter Rachel Abrams, joins his earlier probing work on the Walt Disney Co., insider trading, corporate lawyers and the posh netherworld of American business. Imagine a mash-up of King Lear and Weekend at Bernie’s, the 1989 movie comedy about two scamps who prop up a cadaver so they can enjoy a weekend at his beach house, with Redstone starring in both title roles.”—The Wall Street Journal
“In this riveting, Succesion-esque tale of the fight for control of Paramount Global, James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams weave together a lawsuit, familial conflict, and the lurking Les Moonves.”—Vanity Fair
“Has a business book ever made you blush? . . . There’s the 90-something billionaire with still-active ‘sexual appetites’; the scheming mistresses; threesomes; parked-car encounters; a Sedona love nest; a chief executive who allegedly forced himself on multiple victims; a stolen laptop; shady private investigators; and a cast of characters straight off MTV or another Redstone cable channel. Mixing tight financial reporting with soap-operatic twists and turns, Unscripted makes the amped-up historical fiction of Babylon feel downright chaste by comparison . . . Media insiders and those who followed the Redstone saga will eat this reporting—and some of the other, more comical twists that populate the book—up . . . Unscripted delivers the good.”—The Washington Post
More from the same
What listeners say about Unscripted
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Candice S.
- 2023-06-20
Fascinating insight to rich people behaving badly.
This was a truly interesting story if for nothing more than seeing inside a VERY rich family/dynasty and seeing just how truly and insanely people will act to get their hands on big money and big power. Absolutely fascinating.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 2023-05-07
Great in business and horrible person and parent
Interesting and sad story. Sumner Redstone was a brilliant businessman but a ver perverted person and horrible father.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!