All the Worst Humans: How I Made News for Dictators, Tycoons, and Politicians Phil Elwood

Description

After nearly two decades in the Washington PR business, Elwood wants to come clean, by exposing the dark underbelly of the very industry that’s made him so successful. The first step is revealing exactly what he’s been up to for the past twenty years―and it isn’t pretty. Elwood has worked for a murderer’s row of clients, including Gaddafi, Assad, and the government of Qatar―namely, the bad guys. In All the Worst Humans , Elwood unveils how the PR business works, and how the truth gets made, spun, and sold to the public―not shying away from the gritty details of his unlikely career. This is a piercing look into the corridors of money, power, politics, and control, all told in Elwood’s disarmingly funny and entertaining voice. He recounts a four-day Las Vegas bacchanal with a dictator’s son, plotting communications strategies against a terrorist organization in Western Africa, and helping to land a Middle Eastern dictator’s wife a glowing profile in Vogue on the same time the Arab Spring broke out. And he reveals all his slippery tricks for seducing journalists in order to create chaos and ultimately cover for politicians, dictators, and spies―the industry-secret tactics that led to his rise as a political PR pro.