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Bill O’Reilly used to tell viewers they were entering the “No Spin Zone” when they watched his Fox News program. Unfortunately for Vanity Fair special correspondent Gabriel Sherman, his new book on the family drama surrounding Rupert Murdoch — the man who built Fox News — just debuted in the No Sales Zone.
Sherman’s book, Bonfire of the Murdochs, sold only 1,118 books in the first week following its Feb. 3 publication, according to Bookscan sales figures reviewed by Mediaite. That put the book well outside The New York Times best seller list and stands out because it sold even less than the 1,165 copies Olivia Nuzzi’s American Canto moved last fall — and that memoir was absolutely pummeled by the critics and many media talking heads.
Bonfire has also failed to climb into the top 200 sellers among non-fiction books so far in 2026, based on the sales data.
The limp sales stand out considering Bonfire received some decent publicity heading into its publication date.
Publishers Weekly dubbed it a “juicy melodrama” and the Washington Post, The New Yorker, The Hollywood Reporter, MS NOW, and the BBC were some of the other outlets that covered the book, which chronicled the “epic family war” for Murdoch’s media empire.
NPR hosted Sherman for a full sitdown on its popular show Fresh Air :
In the book, Sherman details how Murdoch’s son James in particular has become increasingly critical of company’s conservative bent. But in September, after years of legal wrangling, James, Elisabeth and Prudence each reportedly agreed to accept $1.1 billion to relinquish their stake in the company — leaving Lachlan as heir to their father’s throne.
“I think [Rupert Murdoch] sees handing the empire to Lachlan as a triumph,” Sherman says. “He has actually done what he set out to do was to pass the company to one of his children — at the cost of destroying the nuclear family in which they all grew up.”
The Succession-style drama over Murdoch’s sprawling media biz — which includes outlets like the New York Post and Wall Street Journal — apparently didn’t intrigue that many readers, though.
Sherman had better luck with his first Fox News-related book back in 2014 — when his tome on Roger Ailes sold about three-times as many copies in its first week.
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