Book review: The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power

Peter Thiel, multibillionaire entrepreneur. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power
by Max Chafkin
(Bloomsbury, $33)

There was a particular term – "ice queen" – in 1950s American gay slang. Some men were so hurt by the widespread social repression of homosexuals that they became remote, manipulative, entirely self-focused and often very conservative in their views - even to the extent of condemning homosexuality.

These men were judged by their gay peers and often referred to as "ice queens".

The American multibillionaire Peter Thiel is the founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies (the data and surveillance firm), as well as being the first outside investor in Facebook. Born in Frankfurt, Germany, he was partially raised in South and South-West Africa, before settling in the United States.

The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power, by Max Chafkin

He also controversially gained New Zealand citizenship after a stay of only 12 days and a meeting with then Prime Minister John Key. He is gay and married his partner Matt Danzeisen in 2017.

Whether Thiel could be termed one of the world's great ice queens is a judgement entirely up to the reader of The Contrarian. It is a picture of a man raised in a conservative and religious family, probably lonely, a competitive chess player and obsessed as a teenager with Dungeons and Dragons and the books of J.R.R. Tolkien. His interest in libertarian ideas and the philosophy of Ayn Rand soon followed.

Chafkin's book is the first biography of Thiel. While it gives a shape to a life that has lacked public detail, it is distanced, much like its subject. Interviewees were hard to gain. Thiel's circle included the Trump White House, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Men of power seldom confide their secrets. Many of Chafkin's potential informants cited "fear" as the reason for their refusal to be cited.

The "Gawker" incident was indicative of Thiel's complex character. Gawker was a website devoted to gossip. In 2007 it published statements including: "Peter Thiel, the smartest VC (Venture Capitalist) in the world, is gay. More power to him." Thiel did not see it as a compliment and bankrolled the wrestler Hulk Hogan in a legal suit against Gawker revolving around Hogan's own recording and use of a sex tape. The suit cost Thiel upwards of $10 million, but bankrupted and destroyed Gawker.

The Contrarian also explores Thiel's connections with the alt-right, his early adoption of cryptocurrency, and his toying with extension of human life. His path to New Zealand citizenship is reviewed, although not in the depth it deserves. Is New Zealand Thiel's bolt-hole or a means of wealth-protection?

The biography frequently feels as if it is a fine extended magazine article. It is readable, revealing and contains ample evidence of Thiel's modes of operation. It is a broad overview.

Yet the best single insight into Thiel as a man remains the strange and awkward 2017 speech he made to the Republican Party convention to endorse Donald Trump as a presidential candidate, still available on YouTube. Thiel has now disowned the man he then praised.

Events have proven him scarily wrong. Money, it seems, is not always right.

Reviewed by David Herkt