Viking, Victoria, Australia, 2008. Previous owners' names in pen on front endpaper, otherwise good secondhand copy.

In the mid-1990s, amid rumours that he had an agenda to bring down totalitarian regimes, Rupert Murdoch was blackballed by the Chinese authorities and a 'Murdoch File' was opened by a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party.

Despite this opposition and the fact that from then on every step he made was monitored, Murdoch remained committed to establishing a media presence in China. But convincing the Chinese authorities that he wasn't a threat was no easy matter. When News Corporation eventually announced a deal with the official organ of the Chinese Communist Party, the People's Daily, to launch China's first joint-venture Internet site, the world's media interpreted the move as the lifting of the 'Black Ban' on Murdoch.

This remarkable book details Murdoch's many convoluted money-spinning deals and ventures with high-profile Chinese figures. It is a roller-coaster read that reveals exactly what Murdoch's dealings cost and what they achieved, and ultimately asks: was it all worth it?