The Contrarian
Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power
(Sprache: Englisch)
A biography of venture capitalist and entrepreneur Peter Thiel, the enigmatic, controversial, and hugely influential power broker who sits at the dynamic intersection of tech, business, and politics
"Max Chafkin's The Contrarian is much more than a...
"Max Chafkin's The Contrarian is much more than a...
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A biography of venture capitalist and entrepreneur Peter Thiel, the enigmatic, controversial, and hugely influential power broker who sits at the dynamic intersection of tech, business, and politics"Max Chafkin's The Contrarian is much more than a consistently shocking biography of Peter Thiel, the most important investor in tech and a key supporter of the Donald Trump presidency. It's also a disturbing history of Silicon Valley that will make you reconsider the ideological foundations of America's relentless engine of creative destruction."-Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store and Amazon Unbound
Since the days of the dot-com bubble in the late 1990s, no industry has made a greater impact on the world than Silicon Valley. And few individuals have done more to shape Silicon Valley than Peter Thiel. The billionaire venture capitalist and entrepreneur has been a behind-the-scenes operator influencing countless aspects of our contemporary way of life, from the technologies we use every day to the delicate power balance between Silicon Valley, Wall Street, and Washington. But despite his power and the ubiquity of his projects, no public figure is quite so mysterious.
In the first major biography of Thiel, Max Chafkin traces the trajectory of the innovator's singular life and worldview, from his upbringing as the child of immigrant parents and years at Stanford as a burgeoning conservative thought leader to his founding of PayPal and Palantir, early investment in Facebook and SpaceX, and relationships with fellow tech titans Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Eric Schmidt. The Contrarian illuminates the extent to which Thiel has sought to export his values to the corridors of power beyond Silicon Valley, including funding the lawsuit that destroyed the blog Gawker and strenuously backing far-right political candidates, notably Donald Trump for president in 2016.
Eye-opening and deeply reported, The Contrarian is a revelatory biography of a one-of-a-kind
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leader and an incisive portrait of a tech industry whose explosive growth and power is both thrilling and fraught with controversy.
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INTRODUCTION
It may seem hard to remember, but there was a time when the world seemed ready to put Silicon Valley in charge of everything. This was 2016 the Age of Unicorns, as business magazines called it, referring to tech companies that were growing so quickly, and had become so valuable, that they seemed almost mythical. Jeff Bezos had saved one of America s great newspapers, Mark Zuckerberg was romancing San Francisco politicos, who d just named a hospital after him, and transportation activists were showing up in major cities to protest in favor of the disruptions brought on by Uber. President Barack Obama, his term winding down, was musing about relocating to California and becoming a tech investor as his next act. Venture capital, he told to reporters that spring, sounded like it could be very satisfying.
But even as the zeitgeist all the way up to ambitions of the leader of the free world celebrated the promise and potential of Silicon Valley, one of Silicon Valley s pioneers had already turned his attention well beyond it. Over the prior two decades, Peter Thiel had accumulated billions of dollars in wealth, backing some of the biggest and most successful tech companies, including Facebook, PayPal, and SpaceX. He d built a network that gave him access to the best entrepreneurs and the wealthiest investors in the world, and he was idolized by a generation of aspiring startup founders. But Thiel wanted more than sway in Silicon Valley he wanted real power, political power. He was about to be handed an opportunity to seize it.
It came in the form of what appeared at first to be a minor scandal at Facebook, where Thiel had been an early investor. That May, the tech blog Gizmodo published a report claiming that the opinions of conservatives were being systematically suppressed by the social network. A small team of editors working on a new feature called Trending Topics said they d been instructed to include stories
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from mainstream outlets such as CNN and The New York Times, but to leave out stories from right-wing media as well as those about fringe topics popular among conservatives, such as the unverified claim that the IRS had been targeting Tea Party affiliated nonprofits.
The scoop was modest Trending Topics had nothing to do with the regular news feed, which was curated by algorithm and was full of right- wing content but it enraged conservatives, who saw it as proof that Facebook was biased in a broader way. The Drudge Report, which had been among the banned outlets, led with a giant and unflattering pic- ture of Zuckerberg s deputy Sheryl Sandberg, the author of the book Lean In. not leaning in . . . leaning left! the headline screamed. facebook under fire was the Fox News chyron.
Facebook denied the allegations, but Zuckerberg sensed that this was a crisis to be managed, and he turned to Thiel to help him. On Wednesday, May 18, a group of sixteen prominent right-wing media personalities were summoned to Menlo Park for a meeting. They included talk show hosts Tucker Carlson, Glenn Beck, and Dana Perino; the presidents of the Tea Party Patriots, the American Enterprise Institute, and the Heritage Foundation; and a handful of others. Officially, they were there to see Zuckerberg and Sandberg, but Thiel was the reason many of them had made the trip.
At forty-eight, he was more than a decade older than the Facebook founder, but the two men had much in common. Like Zuckerberg, Thiel was ruthlessly competitive and awkward in social situations. They d been close Thiel had been Zuckerberg s mentor and his patron, the first out- side investor in his company and the first person in authority to grasp that Zuckerberg actually knew what he was doing.
Years earlier, Thiel had se
The scoop was modest Trending Topics had nothing to do with the regular news feed, which was curated by algorithm and was full of right- wing content but it enraged conservatives, who saw it as proof that Facebook was biased in a broader way. The Drudge Report, which had been among the banned outlets, led with a giant and unflattering pic- ture of Zuckerberg s deputy Sheryl Sandberg, the author of the book Lean In. not leaning in . . . leaning left! the headline screamed. facebook under fire was the Fox News chyron.
Facebook denied the allegations, but Zuckerberg sensed that this was a crisis to be managed, and he turned to Thiel to help him. On Wednesday, May 18, a group of sixteen prominent right-wing media personalities were summoned to Menlo Park for a meeting. They included talk show hosts Tucker Carlson, Glenn Beck, and Dana Perino; the presidents of the Tea Party Patriots, the American Enterprise Institute, and the Heritage Foundation; and a handful of others. Officially, they were there to see Zuckerberg and Sandberg, but Thiel was the reason many of them had made the trip.
At forty-eight, he was more than a decade older than the Facebook founder, but the two men had much in common. Like Zuckerberg, Thiel was ruthlessly competitive and awkward in social situations. They d been close Thiel had been Zuckerberg s mentor and his patron, the first out- side investor in his company and the first person in authority to grasp that Zuckerberg actually knew what he was doing.
Years earlier, Thiel had se
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Autoren-Porträt von Max Chafkin
Max Chafkin
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Max Chafkin
- 2021, Internationale Ausgabe, 400 Seiten, Maße: 15,1 x 23,2 cm, Kartoniert (TB), Englisch
- Verlag: Penguin Random House
- ISBN-10: 0593300610
- ISBN-13: 9780593300619
- Erscheinungsdatum: 24.09.2021
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
A judicious biography. . . . Unfailing diligent. . . . The Contrarian isn t just about Thiel; it s about Silicon Valley s political coming-of-age, too. New York TimesIn writing a biography of Thiel, the deck was stacked against Max Chafkin . . . who daringly took to the task. His new book . . . charts the billionaire s rise from his early days as a precocious chess champion who never quite fit in to a world-conquering tech visionary and political firebrand. Fortune, The Best Books of 2021
Peter Thiel is one of tech s most powerful people and one of its most enigmatic. That s why Max Chafkin s new biography of Thiel is so welcome. The Contrarian is a deep study of a Valley anomaly. . . . Chafkin digs deep to help us understand his subject. Wired
Max Chafkin takes a deep dive into the life and history of billionaire entrepreneur and Silicon Valley whisperer Peter Thiel. . . . What s striking to me about the book is the number of people who chose not to go on the record, out of fear of possible retaliation. A great read if you re looking to understand the nuances of PayPal s origin story and Thiel s contributions to Trump s 2016 election run. Yahoo Finance, The Best Business Books We Read in 2021
Chafkin has assembled a richly detailed portrait of an evasive subject. The Baffler
A sharp and disturbing biography. . . . Chafkin s chronicle of Thiel s wild abandon during the Obama years contains some of the most suspenseful passages in the book, as the narrative hurtles toward his acquisition of actual political power. . . . The Contrarian is chilling literally chilling. As I read it, I grew colder and colder, until I found myself curled up under a blanket on a sunny day, icy and anxious. Scared people are scary, and Chafkin s masterly evocation of his subject s galactic fear of liberals, of the U.S. government, of death turns Thiel himself into a threat. I tried to tell myself that Thiel is just
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another rapacious solipsist, in it for the money, but I used to tell myself that about another rapacious solipsist, and he became president. The New York Times Book Review
There are enough juicy details in this portrait of the controversial tech billionaire Peter Thiel to keep you on the hook. Vulture
Max Chafkin s The Contrarian makes for deeply uncomfortable reading. This meticulous biography of big tech s leading conservative figure (Thiel was a prominent Trump backer, and spoke at the 2016 Republican convention) is full of moments that would startle those with the hardiest constitutions. The Spectator
Horribly fascinating. . . . Chafkin carefully documents a detestable man of extraordinary contradictions. The Irish Times
Punchy and caustic . . . an engrossing look at one of Silicon Valley s most eccentric and abrasive figures. Publishers Weekly
[Chafkin] does an excellent job of unpicking the disparate elements of the Thiel mythology. Nothing is quite what it seems. London Review of Books
A revealing portrait. . . . A savvy biography. . . . Chafkin deftly portrays his subject as a calculating operator, nihilist, and predator who has constructed an image so compelling that it has come to obscure the man behind it. A brisk, well-researched life of an enigmatic billionaire. Kirkus
Max Chafkin s The Contrarian is much more than a consistently shocking biography of Peter Thiel, the most important investor in tech and a key supporter of the Donald Trump presidency. It s also a disturbing history of Silicon Valley that will make you reconsider the ideological foundations of America s relentless engine of creative destruction. Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store
The Contrarian is a captivating, incisive, rigorously reported examination of Silicon Valley s most mysterious and controversial powerbroker. Max Chafkin doesn t just illuminate the life of Peter Thiel and the unsettling world he has created. With peerless authority, he tells the broader story of our age, showing us how Silicon Valley s early utopianism was attacked from within, succumbing to largely unseen forces and giving rise to the darker, more dangerous world we inhabit today. Joshua Green, author of Devil s Bargain
In The Contrarian, Max Chafkin takes us on a fascinating journey into the life and mind of one of the most influential, and least understood, figures in business and politics. Sheelah Kolhatkar, author of Black Edge
Max Chafkin has taken on the daring task of profiling one of the most secretive and powerful men in the history of Silicon Valley. A dogged reporter and an entertaining writer, he weaves an epic tale filled with startling ambition, cold calculation, and a large helping of contrarian and contradictory opinions. Emily Chang, author of Brotopia
Whether you admire him or fear him, Peter Thiel s influence has been undeniable. In this deeply reported and gripping biography, Max Chafkin reveals the lessons behind Thiel s rise. It offers essential insights for anyone who wants to understand what Silicon Valley s global ascendance has wrought and it s a really great read. Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better
There are enough juicy details in this portrait of the controversial tech billionaire Peter Thiel to keep you on the hook. Vulture
Max Chafkin s The Contrarian makes for deeply uncomfortable reading. This meticulous biography of big tech s leading conservative figure (Thiel was a prominent Trump backer, and spoke at the 2016 Republican convention) is full of moments that would startle those with the hardiest constitutions. The Spectator
Horribly fascinating. . . . Chafkin carefully documents a detestable man of extraordinary contradictions. The Irish Times
Punchy and caustic . . . an engrossing look at one of Silicon Valley s most eccentric and abrasive figures. Publishers Weekly
[Chafkin] does an excellent job of unpicking the disparate elements of the Thiel mythology. Nothing is quite what it seems. London Review of Books
A revealing portrait. . . . A savvy biography. . . . Chafkin deftly portrays his subject as a calculating operator, nihilist, and predator who has constructed an image so compelling that it has come to obscure the man behind it. A brisk, well-researched life of an enigmatic billionaire. Kirkus
Max Chafkin s The Contrarian is much more than a consistently shocking biography of Peter Thiel, the most important investor in tech and a key supporter of the Donald Trump presidency. It s also a disturbing history of Silicon Valley that will make you reconsider the ideological foundations of America s relentless engine of creative destruction. Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store
The Contrarian is a captivating, incisive, rigorously reported examination of Silicon Valley s most mysterious and controversial powerbroker. Max Chafkin doesn t just illuminate the life of Peter Thiel and the unsettling world he has created. With peerless authority, he tells the broader story of our age, showing us how Silicon Valley s early utopianism was attacked from within, succumbing to largely unseen forces and giving rise to the darker, more dangerous world we inhabit today. Joshua Green, author of Devil s Bargain
In The Contrarian, Max Chafkin takes us on a fascinating journey into the life and mind of one of the most influential, and least understood, figures in business and politics. Sheelah Kolhatkar, author of Black Edge
Max Chafkin has taken on the daring task of profiling one of the most secretive and powerful men in the history of Silicon Valley. A dogged reporter and an entertaining writer, he weaves an epic tale filled with startling ambition, cold calculation, and a large helping of contrarian and contradictory opinions. Emily Chang, author of Brotopia
Whether you admire him or fear him, Peter Thiel s influence has been undeniable. In this deeply reported and gripping biography, Max Chafkin reveals the lessons behind Thiel s rise. It offers essential insights for anyone who wants to understand what Silicon Valley s global ascendance has wrought and it s a really great read. Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better
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