Shades of Black: Conrad Black—His Rise and Fall

Ashley Thomson is a full librarian at Laurentian University and co-editor or co-author of nine books, most recently Margaret Atwood: A Reference Guide, 1988-2005.

In April 2005, The Globe and Mail reported that Ravelston Corp., the
private firm through which Conrad Black manipulated his international
web of media interests, had been placed in receivership at the
company’s request. The paper added that Black and long-time deputy
David Radler had resigned as officers and directors of the private
company that owned 78 percent of Hollinger Inc., a Toronto holding
company that in turn had a 66.8 percent voting interest and a 17.4
percent equity holding in Chicago-based newspaper publisher Hollinger
International.

At the time of Black’s resignation, Ravelston had been drained of
cash because it no longer received multi-million-dollar management fees
from the Hollinger empire. Most of the fees were halted in 2003 after a
special committee of Hollinger International directors alleged that Mr.
Black and his team of executives had improperly received more than $30
million in payments. Since then, the executives have faced allegations
of securities fraud by U.S. regulators and were under criminal
investigation by the U.S. Justice Department.

Shades of Black is an update of Siklos’s 1995 book—also titled
Shades of Black, only then the subtitle was Conrad Black and the
World’s Fastest Growing Press Empire. In those days, Black was at the
top of his game, and both books explain how he got there. These days, of
course, most of the interest Black generates revolves around his legal
difficulties, connected in part to his 1992 marriage to Barbara Amiel
and their extravagant lifestyle.

Siklos, a weekly columnist for the Sunday Telegraph, has had
extraordinary access to Black and the other principals in the story. His
lively and meticulously researched biography provides rich background to
the headlines that continue to chronicle Black’s sorry downfall.