Privileged Son: Otis Chandler and the Rise and Fall of the L.A. Times Dynasty

_Priveleged Son_ manages to hit that sweet spot that so many biographies of business figures fail to capture-- it manages to be a very good look at a business and industry and at the same time be readable and enjoyable on the level of a novel.While ostensibly a biography of Otis Chandler, it gives a fascinating look at the rise of a newspaper as local empire and the same newspaper's (largely unsuccessful) efforts to translate that into a truly national business. Without any industry focus, the story of the Chandlers and their relationship to LA is the stuff of novels (pulp fiction and true romance)-- LA grows up with its paper in this book.I was particularly fascinated to read what happened at the paper under the direction of Mark "Cereal Killer" Willes. His ill-starred management is a cautionary tale for would-be media moguls who fail to understand the core values that make up the news industry. A great read for people interested in the media industry. A just-as-great read for people who like a good story.

I really liked this book. As a fan of LA where I travel often for business and pleasure, this book fills in the history of how LA was built and the role played by the driving family of the LA Times. But as interesting as this history is, there are so many subplots to follow that are also fun. For example, as the family is accepted in the Pasadena "blue-blooded" culture, it's interesting how most become so snobbish about accepting anyone in their culture. My favorite stories on this subject are his second wife's training to develop social graces to travel in the Chandler's circles that was somewhat required. Also, when he divorces at 50, his Mom starts investigating which of her friends have unmarried daughters that would be acceptable marriage bait for this 50 year old bachelor. Like he can't take care of himself.But enough of the small stuff, this book is about the Times and LA and starts with the Otis family and its purchase of the Times. The General and his Son-in-law ran this paper as a Republican tour guide of LA. And it worked. Maybe too good as LA is way too crowded. Along the way is great history of the need for water and the shady ways it was obtained as well as real estate development stories including a foray in Mexico. Harry Chandler's son Norman ran it much the same way but his son Otis Chandler who took over around 1960 was much more liberal and open to debate and other opinions which did not endear him with his pompous family. This break seemed to eventually lead to his ouster in 1985 even though he had grown the earnings strength of the paper. I believe the book did not adequately explain the buildup to his ouster. His Chairman comes in and it's over. Clearly, Otis was partially to blame as his hobbies of hunting, cars and lifting weights took away his attention.The replacements proceed to tear down the paper leading to its eventual sale to the Chicago Tribune. It's a very interesting business story although from that perspective it could have done a better job by financially describing the significance of the paper's net worth at different points in history. But the book also overlaid the history of Otis' family, as he clearly was where most of the information for this book came from. Interestingly, Otis grew up in an exclusive family attending Andover and Stanford. But while two of his sons attended prep school and top colleges, one did not. And many of his offspring did not marry inside their social set and did not rise to the same levels as captains of industry. Otis Chandler did not place large pressure on his family to live the same social life he was forced to live and it's interesting how they grew up and the relationships they had with their parents. With so many transplanted Southern Californians all enjoying the beautiful weather, it was inevitable that many in his family would marry outside the Pasadena blue-blooded set.I enjoyed this book immensely but it is a time commitment at over 450 pages of small print. I recomm

In several of our major metropolitan areas (e.g. Boston, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles), a daily newspaper played a major role during the 20th century. From my perspective, the area and the paper had a symbiotic relationship which must be understood in all its complexity if we are to understand either the area's culture or the unique role the newspaper has played within that culture. In this book, McDougal functions as a journalist and an historian, of course, but also as an anthropologist. As the book's subtitle indicates, his primary purpose is to examine Otis Chandler during "the rise and fall of the L.A. dynasty." (It is worth noting that the Boston Globe is now owned by the parent company of the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times is now owned by the parent company of the Chicago Tribune. Perhaps McDougal or someone else will examine those recent developments in a book yet to be written. And perhaps examine, also, recent mergers which have created media conglomerates such as AOL Time Warner.) For much of this book, the Times's various publishers dominate the narrative. Specifically, first Harrison Otis, then Harry Chandler, then Harry's son Norman, and finally Norman's son Otis. Of equal interest to me were the roles played by various women, notably Norman's wife Buff and Otis' two wives, Missy and then Bettina. In California throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, the Chandlers established and solidified a "dynasty" but also what McDougal more correctly describes as an "oligarchy."These are among the important questions addressed in this book:1. How and why did the Los Angles Times become so influential?2. How and why did it later lose so much of that influence?3. Precisely what role did Otis Chandler play throughout that process?McDougal is especially effective when explaining the culture within which three generations of Chandlers served as publisher. For example: "Like Harry, Norman understood early that the business of the Times was conducted as much in the private clubs and exclusive retreats of Los Angeles as it was inside the Times Mirror Building....With his chiseled good looks, cleft chin, and Stanford polish, Norman also rose naturally to a leadership among the newest generations of L.A. Brahmins. As the older patricians with whom Harry once did business began dying off, a new wave of young tycoons came to populate the exclusive mahogany-paneled grandeur" of the city's most exclusive cultural and social organizations. The young "brahmins" also called themselves "the Economic Roundtable" and founded their own organization bearing that name.It was into such a culture that Otis was born and within which he was raised to assume, eventually, his own position of immense wealth, power, status, and prestige. He and others in his generation "behaved in much the same fashion as their East Coast counterparts with their insulated neighborhoods, leisure time activities (e.g. membership at the Los Angeles Country Club

It's always a pleasure to see a vastly underrated reporter burst forth with a work so comprehensive, so brilliantly written, so thoroughly researched that attention must be paid -- and is (see excellent full-page notice in New York Times Book Review). Dennis McDougal has always been in the top echelons of American reporters, but he has never been a household name. Let's hope that "Privileged Son" rights this wrong. What a pleasure to read a major work of American history that doesn't read like a legal brief or a Ph.D dissertation. Dennis McDougal proves that definitive works don't have to be dull. The Chandlers and their successors simply jump off these pages.

AND SUPERB VIEW OF THE CHANDLERS AND THE LOS ANGELES TIMES. Only mystery is why the founder of the Los Angeles Times (not Otis) is not mentioned. The extraordinary Thomas Gardner from Tombstone started the LA Times after the Arizona Quarterly Illustrated but ran into debt to the Mirror Co. and sold out to them, from whence Otis acquired title. Not much else to nitpick on this superb bio. Some amazing facts hidden here. incl. Harry Chandler's financing of another publisher (have to read to find out whom). Unfortunate that Otis' and Harry's personal papers were burned. What an insight. Good companion to Hearst and Lummis biographies now also available. The Golden Age of Journalism for Los Angeles. Now we are suffering the aftermath. Where is the Examiner when we need it? The Daily News and Green Sheet doesn't hack it. A better title would have been "The Three Chandlers and The Los Angeles Times." Superby assembled and written. More, More!