Mason, Todd

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MASON, Todd

PERSONAL: Male.

ADDRESSES: Offıce—c/o Forth Worth Star-Telegram, 400 West Seventh St., Fort Worth, TX 76102.

CAREER: Journalist. Former columnist and Dallas bureau chief for Business Week; Forth Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, reporter.

WRITINGS:

Perot: An Unauthorized Biography, Business One Irwin (Homewood, IL), 1990.

Contributor of numerous articles to such publications as Business Week.

SIDELIGHTS: Journalist Todd Mason is a columnist for the Forth Worth, Texas, Star-Telegram. His first book, Perot: An Unauthorized Biography, takes a hard look at the billionaire businessman and failed U.S. presidential candidate in an attempt to shed light on the truth behind his very public persona.

Mason explores Perot's life from childhood onward, focusing particularly on Perot's association with General Motors. Joseph Nocera, in a review for Business Week, remarked that "although his book is awkwardly written and badly organized, Mason brings to his task an earnestness and honesty that is appealing. . . . He admits what he doesn't know, and states the facts, whether they help or hurt the case he is trying to build." A reviewer for the Economist was not convinced by Mason's arguments, citing minor errors in the book and adding, "what else, one wonders, has Mr. Mason got wrong?"

However, Newsbytes contributor John McCormick found Mason's approach straightforward, remarking that "the picture this book gives is not a whitewash of an American icon, nor is it a hatchet job. Rather, the author attempts to give as much useful information as he could obtain about Mr. Perot's business dealings and let people draw their own conclusions." Genevieve Stuttaford, in a review of Perot: An Unauthorized Biography for Publishers Weekly concluded that the book is "a biting yet balanced profile of the fiercely independent H. Ross Perot."