The Contrarian: The Story of Peter Thiel is a biography of the billionaire venture capitalist and entrepreneur, Peter Thiel. Written by Max Chafkin, the book traces Thiel's life and worldview, from his upbringing as the child of immigrant parents to his founding of PayPal and Palantir, early investment in Facebook and SpaceX, and relationships with fellow tech titans Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Eric Schmidt. The book also explores Thiel's efforts to export his values to the corridors of power beyond Silicon Valley, including funding the lawsuit that destroyed the blog Gawker and supporting far-right political candidates, notably Donald Trump for president in 2016. The Contrarian is an in-depth look at Thiel's life and impact on the tech industry, providing an incisive portrait of a tech industry whose explosive growth and power is both thrilling and fraught with controversy.