THE DINNER CLUB

Washington Post reporter mishandles her inside access to an elite cub and draws a messy portrait of the Washington, D.C., Internet business scene.

The Capital Investors, which consists of 26 white men who are leaders of computer-related businesses headquartered around the nation’s capital, meet monthly for dinner. Founded unofficially in 1996, the club, whose most prominent member is AOL Time Warner chairman Steve Case, was already losing its luster and assets when it first invited Henry to attend the November 2000 dinner. Here, she listens to their private conversations and hears presentations from leaders of new businesses soliciting cash and expertise. During dessert, CEOs of Internet and high-tech companies like Emtera, SwapDrive and MaTRICS make presentations, get peppered with questions and challenges, and occasionally leave with more than $200,000, although helpful advice is rare. Between meals, Henry rushes through portraits of Dinner Club members. James Kimsey, co-founder of AOL, is back from visiting Fidel Castro (FC has business cards), and now is off to Vietnam with President Clinton. Mario Morino, founder of a successful software company and generous philanthropist, shaped the Washington technology community. Henry uses club member Mark Warner’s successful Virginia gubernatorial campaign to frame, ineffectively, her narrative. The only memorable section is an excellent, extended chapter on MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor, whose company’s stock went from $333 per share to $1. Predictably, the story winds down with other Capital Investors losing their businesses, and dinner presenters returning for more cash. The narrative does work as a casual restaurant guide for Washington (tourists take note). Always dining well with the club, Henry informally recommends Teatro Goldoni, the Capital Grille, Nora’s, and Citronelle.

The quick-cutting style, though, creates a forgettable blur.