Rick Wartzman

About the Author

Rick Wartzman is an acclaimed journalist and author renowned for his incisive explorations of American business history and the lives of its most influential figures. With a career spanning decades at outlets like The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times, where he served as a senior editor, Wartzman brings a sharp analytical eye to the intersections of power, ambition, and society. His debut book, The King of California: J.G. Boswell and the Making of a Secret American Empire, unveils the enigmatic story of the Boswell family's vast agricultural dominion, revealing how one family's secretive empire reshaped California's landscape and economy. A former director of the Center for Business, Economics, and Society at Claremont Graduate University, Wartzman continues to illuminate the hidden forces driving the nation's economic narrative through his writing and public commentary.