MEDIA

Empire of the Elite: Inside Condé Nast, the media dynasty that reshaped the world

Michael M Grynbaum

Coronet, $34.99

Eileen Ford. Richard Avedon. Fran Lebowitz.

If you had recognised these three names, you would have been one step closer to working at Vogue in the 1990s. These public figures were listed on a set of typed pages that candidates had to identify during an interview with the storied fashion magazine.

For a media institution that set standards for cultural taste and commodified luxury leisure, this was a literal and symbolic test for gaining access to the company’s rarefied world. Michael M Grynbaum, a media reporter for The New York Times , now takes some of its shine off in his robust retelling of the making – and unmaking – of the magazine empire.

With publ

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