Howard Hughes was one of the most amazing, intriguing, and controversial figures of the twentieth century. He was the billionaire head of a giant corporation, a genius inventor, an ace pilot, a matinee-idol-handsome playboy, a major movie maker who bedded a long list of Hollywood glamour queens, a sexual sultan with a harem of teenage consorts, a political insider with intimate ties to Watergate, a Las Vegas kingpin, and ultimately a bizarre recluse whose final years and shocking death were cloaked in macabre mystery. Now he is the subject of Martin Scorsese's biopic The Aviator. Few people have been able to penetrate the wall of secrecy that enshrouded this complex man. In this fascinating, revelation-packed biography, the full story of one of the most daring, enigmatic, and reclusive power brokers America has ever known is finally told.
Lufbra
Posted March 10, 2013
The book is a good read but it is not as indepth as some other bios out there. Most of it takes place during Hughes hey-days of the 1930's - 1960's and the writers paint their picture of Hughes through interviews wiht the many people that knew him or worked with him. THey do make a point of of the fact that Hughes was not the crazy eccentric of popular culture and instead try to explain some of his stranger behavior brought on by the pressures of the federal goverment (Who were after him) and his deafness (which is why he met with people one on one or in hte enclosed space of an auto.) Some of his actions just can't be reationalized though and the writers do not ignore this. The book gets a little gossipy at times because Hughes craossed so many people including family members and the upper management of his many business ventures but i didn't leve the book felling Hughes as bad a person as other bios have made him out to be. There are many books out there about Howard Hughes and most of them are forgettable but I'd place this bio in the top fo the list. Well worth the time to read.
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Posted May 11, 2008
The authors definitely went through alot of research to put this book together. From start to finish there was not one uninteresting sentence.
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Posted January 18, 2006
I saw the movie 'The Aviator' a couple of months ago and absolutely loved it. I thought the movie didn't cover nearly as much of his life, so I picked up this book at my library. The book was so interesting I couldn't put it down. Howard Hughes is a relatively modern-day Florentino Ariza from 'Love in the Time of Cholera'. I do have one qualm with the book, it flipped back and forth through the years instead of writing continuously from year to year. Great read!!
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Posted April 8, 2010
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Anonymous
Posted October 25, 2010
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Overview
Howard Hughes was one of the most amazing, intriguing, and controversial figures of the twentieth century. He was the billionaire head of a giant corporation, a genius inventor, an ace pilot, a matinee-idol-handsome playboy, a major movie maker who bedded a long list of Hollywood glamour queens, a sexual sultan with a harem of teenage consorts, a political insider with intimate ties to Watergate, a Las Vegas kingpin, and ultimately a bizarre recluse whose final years and shocking death were cloaked in macabre ...