“A riveting account of how ‘hubris and resentment and naïveté’ drove Elon Musk’s tumultuous 2022 takeover of Twitter….This is Barbarians at the Gate for the social media age.”

– Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Solid business and tech journalism about how a public good became a nuisance in the hands of a reckless billionaire.”

– Kirkus Reviews

“In Battle for the Bird, Kurt Wagner tells a gripping tale of the high-stakes struggle to control Twitter, one of the world's most influential companies, and the insane, mind-boggling, chaotic battle between Elon Musk, the Twitter board and Jack Dorsey, as the entire concept of free speech hung in the balance.”

– Nick Bilton, author of Hatching Twitter and Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair

“Battle For The Bird is an absolute triumph of reporting and storytelling. Kurt Wagner puts the reader into the room - all the rooms - as one of the great business dramas unfolds and provides an unmatched account of the chaos, power struggles and excitement that have defined the company’s existence.”

– Ashlee Vance, New York Times bestselling author of Elon Musk and host of Bloomberg's “Hello World”

“If you want to understand how one of the most powerful social networks in history managed to be such a dramatic corporate disaster, you must read Kurt Wagner’s deeply reported inside story. Battle for the Bird is a warning for Elon Musk: running Twitter is not rocket science.”

– Sarah Frier, author of Financial Times and McKinsey 2020 Business Book of the Year No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram

“Battle for the Bird is a meticulous and riveting account of how one of the world’s most critical communications platforms has become collateral damage in a one-sided love affair gone awry. Kurt Wagner reveals new, shocking details about how this power transferred from one billionaire to the next and fresh insights on whether Twitter, now X, can be saved.”

– Emily Chang, bestselling author of Brotopia and host of Bloomberg's “The Circuit”