Michael Bloomberg is the 13th richest person in the world, one of New York City’s most notable mayors, and the founder of the country’s 17th largest philanthropy. But who, really, is he?
That question is the subject of a new forthcoming biography by Eleanor Randolph, a writer for the New York Times‘ editorial page, to be published by Simon and Schuster. Julie Bosman, a reporter covering books for the New York Times, broke the news on Twitter.
. @EleanorRandolph's book will chronicle MRB's career on Wall Street, his terms as mayor, and his ongoing status as a national leader.
— Julie Bosman (@juliebosman) September 24, 2013
Overachiever that he is, Bloomberg has already written his autobiography” which came out in time for the 2001 mayoral election. Joyce Purnick, also a writer for the New York Times, wrote a biography called Mike Bloomberg: Money, Power, Politics in time for the 2010 election when Bloomberg was seeking his controversial third term.
For her part, Randolph has been a member of the Times editorial staff since 1998 and is the author of the “Fixing Albany” series on state government. A search of her writing for the Times suggest her opinions of Bloomberg, like that of the rest of the paper, are by and large positive, congratulating ideas such as composting but arguing against rezoning of East Midtown Manhattan.
Randolph’s first major profile of Bloomberg ran in November 2001, when she wrote about how Bloomberg’s blank slate was slowly filling in:.
Nobody knows how this untested mayor-elect will do when he inevitably hits his first real crisis. Even the announcement of his first budget could well bring an angry city into the streets, given the looming financial problems. Mr. Bloomberg might be calm, methodical and sensible, the way his fans keep promising. Or he could be flummoxed by employees who can’t be fired, leaders who can’t be coaxed or even bullied, a press corps that doesn’t work for him. He might lose it and bellow into the cameras the way he did when he was pressed about his finances before the election. Or he could be the voice of honeyed reason that smiled out from his million-dollar campaign ads.
How little we all knew then about what the next decade would bring.
Diana Lind is the former executive director and editor in chief of Next City.
Never Miss A StoryDownload our app