Hubris Maximus

A gripping deep dive into Elon Musk's rapid ascent, chaotic empire and spectacular public implosion

Once heralded as a modern-day Edison, Elon Musk has taken up a new role in public consciousness, with his growing desire to both transform global politics and engage in online arguments.

What happened? In six short years, Musk turned Tesla into the world's most valuable automaker and cast himself as a saviour of humanity, an altruist whose fortune would stop climate change and colonize Mars. Now he is the most polarizing and perpetually distracted CEO on the planet.

Hubris Maximus provides a gripping, detailed portrait of the billionaire's rapid ascent and his spectacular public implosion. Musk's audacity and erratic behaviour drove his success from the start; he spurned regulators and whistle blowers, and replaced those who dared question him with loyalists. As the scale of his wagers have grown in recent years, he alternately seems to be in either complete command or on the verge of a meltdown.

At a moment when the world's tech gods are more influential than ever, this is a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of magnetic leaders. Washington Post journalist Faiz Siddiqui offers a gripping and detailed portrait of a singularly messy and lucrative period in Musk's career, one which has seen him ascend into a key role in Trump's administration.