Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness

by Donald L. Barlett, James B. Steele

Overview

The life that inspired the major motion picture The Aviator, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Martin Scorsese.

Howard Hughes has always fascinated the public with his mixture of secrecy, dashing lifestyle, and reclusiveness. This is the book that breaks through the image to get at the man. Originally published under the title Empire: The Life, Legend, and Madness of Howard Hughes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393326024
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	09/17/2004
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	688
Sales rank:	136,344
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, Time editors-at-large, are the only journalists in history to win two Pulitzer Prizes and two National Magazine Awards.

James B. Steele and Donald L. Barlett, Time editors-at-large, are the only journalists in history to win two Pulitzer Prizes and two National Magazine Awards.

Table of Contents

	Preface	11
	Acknowledgments	15
	Prologue: Death in Mexico	19
1	The Early Years	26
	The Family	26
	The Rock Eater	32
	Mother	38
	Tragedy	45
	Power Play	53
2	Hollywood	60
	The Legend Begins	60
	Celebrities and Censors	69
3	Hero	75
	Young Man in a Hurry	75
	Record Breaker	81
	Race Around the World	88
4	The War Years	105
	The "Hate Hughes Club"	105
	Strange Bedfellows	113
	The Flying Boat	118
	"An Awful Smell"	125
5	The Senate Investigation	135
	The XF-11 Crash	135
	Circus on the Potomac	145
	Surprise Flight	156
6	Movies, Missiles, and Communists	161
	The RKO Takeover	161
	Turnabout	170
	The Red Menace	178
7	Revolt at Culver City	186
	"A Hell of a Mess"	186
	Another Bosom Brouhaha	195
	The Counterfeit Charity	198
	Political Insurance	202
8	Seeds of Disaster	208
	The Rise of the Mormons	208
	The $400-Million Order	215
	Where Is the Money?	223
9	Breakdown	226
	Mysterious Marriage	226
	Crisis	230
	Asylum	235
	Showdown with Wall Street	240
10	Retreat	250
	TWA v. Hughes	250
	The Germ War	260
	Manhunt	266
	The Victor and the Spoils	270
11	A New Career	276
	The Guest Who Overstayed	276
	Maheu's Old Friend	281
	April Fool's Day	287
12	Lord of the Desert	296
	Las Vegas on $178,000 a Day	296
	The Public-Relations Blitz	303
	Masterplan	308
	Warning from Washington	311
13	Out of Control	317
	A Rival	317
	The Emperor's Lieutenants	324
	A Grave Conspiracy	330
	A Nose for News	335
	Boxcar	339
14	The $90-Million Mistake	348
	Helicopters	348
	The Lobbying Coup	352
	The "Buy-in"	359
15	The Billion-Dollar Deal	365
	Merely a Millionaire	365
	Cornering a Market	368
	A Hughes Lesson	375
16	The Hijacking of Air West	381
	"Air Worst"	381
	Squeeze Play	386
	Washington's Rubber Stamp	392
17	Gold Fever	398
	"Comstock Shares Showed Moderate Gains"	398
	A Parade of Prospectors	402
	A Pig in a Poke?	405
	The President's Brother	410
	The Sting	414
18	Turning Point	423
	Rumblings	423
	Ouster	430
	The Empire Changes Hands	440
19	The Political Connection	448
	"I Can Buy Any Man in the World"	448
	The Secret Investment	454
	The Secret Mission and Secret Alliance	457
20	Life in Exile	467
	Hoax	467
	The $350-Million Giveaway	476
	Invalid	485
21	Watergate	494
	Under Fire	494
	The Hughes Connection	500
	The Well-Wired Source	509
22	Hughesgate	517
	"The Bastille"	517
	The Million-Dollar Burglary	522
23	The Cia's Best-Kept Secret	534
	Project Jennifer	534
	The Mell Stewart Problem	537
	Cover Story	540
24	The Last Year	550
	The Legacy	550
	The Last Fight	558
	The Candyman	563
	Where Is the Will?	569
25	The Fight for the Fortune	580
	Cover-up	580
	The Mormon Will	591
	Fallout	606
	Death by Negligence?	614
	Epilogue: A Summing Up	622
	Chronology	629
	Appendices	633
	Sources	641
	Notes	645
	Index	671

Editorial Reviews

"[The authors] have made an impressive use of documents to fashion this longest, most responsible and authoritative biography of Hughes to date."

Newsweek - Peter S. Prescott

"Of all the books written about Howard Hughes, [this] is easily the best...the first fully documented, crade-to-grave account of a unique American life."

Ted Morgan

"Donald Barlett and James Steele of The Philadelphia Inquirer, the finest team of reporters west of The Times of London, herewith present the perfect biography of the weirdest, most fascinating, most god-awful corporate creature you will ever encounter in broad daylight."

Nation - Robert Sherrill

"By far the soundest, fairest and fullest book we have on the bizarre billionaire who commanded the fortunes of Croesus yet could not command himself. It is the story of a man who had everything—and nothing."

John Barkham Reviews

"Now the full story of the life and death of Howard Hughes has been published, told not as cheap gossip but as a dazzlingly reported, hard-nosed account...[A] fat, beautifully researched book."

Chicago Sun-Times - John Justin Smith