Released two years after the break-up of the English band the Beatles, the book covers the business aspect of the group's career, particularly the problems that befell their Apple Corps enterprise.

In February 1972, before the book's publication, McCabe wrote an article for New York magazine in which he accused Apple's business manager, Allen Klein, of withholding funds raised for UNICEF via former Beatle George Harrison's triple live album The Concert for Bangladesh,[1] and for having been responsible for delaying the album's release.

[7] Other such titles included Richard DiLello's account of working at Apple, The Longest Cocktail Party (1972), and musicologist Wilfrid Mellers' study of the group's recordings, Twilight of the Gods: The Beatles in Retrospect (1973).

[10] In Let It Rock magazine, Phil Hardy wrote that the authors had failed to assemble a convincing or informative narrative and had instead resorted to portraying Epstein as their "hero", at the obvious expense of Klein and the Eastman family.

[8] In his overview of the most notable books about the band, for Rough Guides, Chris Ingham says that while it has long been out of print, it is a title "worth seeking out".