Howard Hughes : The Untold Story Book

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 influencer 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. Until now, few people have been able to penetrate the wall of secrecy that concealed 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. Drawing on nearly 400,000 pages of recently unsealed court documents, over 2,000 pages of secret FBI reports, and more than 600 new interviews, Peter Harry Brown and Pat H. Broeske show us Howard Hughes as never before. They expose the truth about his affairs with actresses such as the incendiary Jean Harlow, soul mate Katharine Hepburn, and earthy Ava Gardner. They reveal the reasons Ginger Rogers wouldn't marry him and why Rita Hayworth aborted his child. His emotionally incestuous ties to his beautiful mother, his cruel rejection of his Southern-belle first wife, and his tortured marriage to Jean Peters are fully detailed, as are his breakdowns and recoveries, disappearing acts and disguises. And Howard Hughes: The Untold Story calls into question the accepted account of his death and shows why even today, his legend continues to grip the world's imagination.