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Netflix has come a long way since 1997, when Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings decided to start an online DVD store before most people owned a DVD player. Yet its long-term success—or even survival—is still far from guaranteed.

Journalist Gina Keating recounts the fast-paced drama of the company’s turbulent rise to the top and its attempt to invent two new kinds of business. First it engaged in a grueling war against videostore behemoth Blockbuster, transforming movie rental forever. Then it jumped into an even bigger battle for online video streaming against Google, Hulu, Amazon, and the big cable companies.

Drawing on extensive interviews and her years covering Netflix as a reporter, Keating makes this tale as absorbing as it is important.