Rock-and-roll stardom hovers on the fringes in this deceptively familiar story. When Case goes on to helm America Online, he forces himself on the unwary public like a bastard son of Phil Collins. Pursuing Ed Sullivan-sized dreams one last time, he broadcasts himself into America's homes on the pretext of apologizing for AOL's unending busy signals. Then re-casting his ambition of being a concert promoter, he has AOL round up Mick Jagger, LL Cool J, Dennis Rodman, Rosie O'Donnell and other celebrities to re-record the phrase "You've Got Mail" for AOL's "Celebrity You've Got Mail" contest.

Instead, Case becomes a business superstar: listed in Vanity Fair, parodied in Mad magazine, marketing a line of AOL t-shirts. Fame has descended, and like the century's other icons — Ernest Hemingway and Salvador Dali — Case appears in a Gap ad, photographed by Richard Avedon. "The rather boring, but very rich, president of AOL is the latest personna that the Gap clothing chain has decided to associate with its khaki pants," a Silicon Valley gossip columnist writes. "Case represents...uh, uh...oh, we give up... another rich white guy who wears all-cotton pants."

Buried frustration transforms Case into a ruthless conquerer, swallowing vulnerable technology companies and their software. Netscape, CompuServe, WinAmp, ICQ — all dangle from AOL's prospectus like shrunken heads on a savage's belt. Ironically, in 1995 CompuServe tells Forbes "We didn't want to taint our revenues by using AOL's shoddy accounting practices." Three years later, AOL buys them. For the screams of fans, Case substitutes the cries of his vanquished foes.

But after AOL's 1997 acquisition of CompuServe, Case still attains one shimmering rock-star moment. To pump up a crowd of CompuServe employees, Time magazine reports, the AOL executive stokes them by promising an on-line business that was just as secure as the juice stand he'd run as a six-year-old. And then — he takes his shirt off. Time records the whole sordid scene in its September 22 issue. As the adulating crowd looks on, Case teases the audience by muttering "Now don't look," while fumbling for a CompuServe polo shirt...