Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell
John Preston
Recounts Maxwell's rise and fall and rise and fall again. Preston weaves backwards and forwards in time to examine the forces that shaped Maxwell, including his childhood as a Jew in occupied Eastern Europe through his failed political ambitions in the 1960s which ended in accusations of financial double-dealing, and his resurrection as a media mogul--and on to the family legacy he left behind, including his daughter Ghislaine Maxwell. In February 1991, Robert Maxwell triumphantly sailed into Manhattan harbor on his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, to buy the ailing New York Daily News. Ten months later, Maxwell disappeared off that same yacht in the middle of the night and was later found dead in the water. Preston recounts Maxwell's rise and fall and rise and fall again. He examines the forces Maxwell's childhood as a Jew in occupied Eastern Europe, his failed political ambitions in the 1960s which ended in accusations of financial double-dealing, and his resurrection as a media mogul. Preston also examines the family legacy he left behind, including his daughter Ghislaine Maxwell.
Award History
1 wins · 2 total
| Award | Year | Result | Category / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Costa Book Awards: Biography | 2021 | Winner | Secondary source |
| Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-FictionMajor | 2021 | Finalist | Secondary source |
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies
This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.
01 Central figures
- Robert Maxwell95%
Show lower-confidence suggestions
These suggestions did not meet the normal display threshold and are more likely to be wrong.
- Ghislaine Maxwell62%
02 Central places
None extracted with sufficient confidence.
These suggestions did not meet the normal display threshold and are more likely to be wrong.
- Manhattan harbor55%
03 Suggested argument
No argument inferred with sufficient confidence.
04 Reading orientation
32 / 100 academicSerious trade
An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.
Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 86%.