Rupert Murdoch

When Murdoch, Australia's publishing boy wonder, began his first U.S. venture in San Antonio, Tex., in 1973 he didn't realize that in America newspaper profits depend on advertising, according to this plain-spoken biography by the author of Trump. But in the last 15 years, by ``pyramiding'' stock control on borrowed money, Murdoch has assembled a worldwide media empire of newsapers ( New York Post , London Times et al.), magazines ( New York, TV Guide ), book publishing (Harper & Row), movies (20th Century Fox) and television, with his Fox network gaining fast on NBC, CBS and ABC. Interviewing employees, competitors, friends and Murdoch himself, but relying heavily on financial-press quotes, Tuccille quietly chronicles the dazzling career of a peripatetic family man who in business, he shows, is taciturn, workaholic and a monumentally high-stakes gambler well ahead of the game so far. (Nov.)