During an arugment with an associate, Robert Maxwell quips, "'Am I speaking Chinese?'"(Greenslade 97). The reader is left to wonder at times what language Maxwell is speaking. Is this the tough, arrogant businessman or the gentle, misunderstood corporate leader who "enjoyed mystery because it lent glamour to the truth"(Greenslade 156)? What this book raises into question is not so much the life of Robert Maxwell but the lives of all powerful and enigmatic men. Whether because of his tough talk or loud lifestyle, Maxwell seems to either attract or repel the reader's attention. During a night out on the town to celebrate his birthday, Maxwell comments to one of his associates about a certain problem he's been having with hard liquor, how he's been trying to avoid it because he beleived it was making him insane. His suggestion was glossed over by the underling and then Maxwell had one of those episodes--ranting, raving, waking up the next day and not being able to remember what happened the night before. In many ways, the whole world knew Robert Maxwell but not one person knew him closely. He was a hard man to approach--as is often the case with geniuses. Greenslade's treatment of Maxwell, while harsh, captures many facets of his curious personality. Many have wondered what drove Maxwell to be such a tyrant. And was his death...an accident? These questions are very hard to answer but Greenslade puts them into context with precision and the kind of care a man of Maxwell's depth merits(Greenslade remarks at one point that Maxwell was the most intelligent man he ever knew). One is left to wonder what Maxwell might have done if he was a poet or an artist. Certainly his skill with people, albeit brutal, was brilliant and colorful. What if he had applied these same things to the canvas or the page? We can only surmise that he would have made just as great an impression.