From the Publisher
"I never ask for mercy and seek no one''s sympathy. I would never,
as was once needlessly feared in this court, be a fugitive from
justice in this country, only a seeker of it."
-Conrad Black, in his statement to the court, June 24, 2011
In 1993, Conrad Black was the proprietor of London''s Daily
Telegraph and the head of one of the world''s largest
newspaper groups. He completed a memoir in 1992, A Life in
Progress, and "great prospects beckoned." In 2004, he was
fired as chairman of Hollinger International after he and his
associates were accused of fraud. Here, for the first time, Black
describes his indictment, four-month trial in Chicago, partial
conviction, imprisonment, and largely successful appeal.
In this unflinchingly revealing and superbly written memoir, Black
writes without reserve about the prosecutors who mounted a campaign
to destroy him and the journalists who presumed he was guilty.
Fascinating people fill these pages, from prime ministers and
presidents to the social, legal, and media elite, among them:
Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, George W. Bush, Jean Chrétien,
Rupert Murdoch, Izzy Asper, Richard Perle, Norman Podhoretz, Eddie
Greenspan, Alan Dershowitz, and Henry Kissinger.
Woven throughout are Black''s views on big themes: politics,
corporate governance, and the U.S. justice system. He is candid
about highly personal subjects, including his friendships - with
those who have supported and those who have betrayed him - his
Roman Catholic faith, and his marriage to Barbara Amiel. And he
writes about his complex relations with Canada, Great Britain, and
the United States, and in particular the blow he has suffered at
the hands of that nation.
In this extraordinary book, Black maintains his innocence and
recounts what he describes as "the fight of and for my life." A
Matter of Principle is a riveting memoir and a scathing
account of a flawed justice system.
From the Hardcover edition.
About the Author
Conrad Black is the author of critically acclaimed biographies of
Maurice Duplessis, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Richard Nixon. The
former head of the Argus and Hollinger corporate groups and of
London''s Telegraph newspapers, Black is also the founder of
Canada''s National Post. For some years he has been a
columnist there and at the National Review Online (New
York). Black has been a member of the British House of Lords since
2001.
In 2005, Black was accused of a total of 17 charges of criminal
corporate misconduct in the United States, and prosecutors sought
life imprisonment and fines and restitution totalling $140 million.
After six years, all the charges were either abandoned, rejected by
jurors, or in the case of four convictions, vacated unanimously by
the United States Supreme Court. On the original convictions, he
was sentenced to imprisonment for 78 months and restitution of $6.1
million. After 29 months in federal prison, he was released on
bail, but the appellate panel whose findings had been vacated by
the high court restored two counts when the case was remanded back
to it. On June 24, 2011, Black was resentenced to a further seven
and a half months in prison, which he is serving at time of
publication, and 90 per cent of his fine was restored to him.
Conrad Black has never ceased to assert his innocence.
From the Hardcover edition.
