Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Empire: The Life, Legend and Madness of Howard Hughes by Donald L. Bartlett, Donald L. Barlett, James B. Steele ISBN: 0-393-07513-3 Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc Pub. Date: 01 April, 1979 Format: Hardcover List Price(USD): $17.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (7 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Howard Hughes, Naked
Comment: The story of Howard Hughes, told superbly in this classic bio, is simply magnetic. How else could you describe a tale that begins with young Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. being born into one of Texas's wealthiest oil families (his father's company, Hughes Tool Company, held a virtual monopoly on drill-bits for many years), moving to Califoria to become a movie mogul, pioneering aviation, heading TWA, and then slipping into degenerative obsessive madness that rendered him completely in the hands of his manipulative underlings. Thus in this book we confront both the young, energetic Hughes (romantically linked to both Jane Russell and Katharine Hepburn) and the old, sick hughes - a nudist who left his hair and fingernails uncut for years, chronicly addicted to codeine, flitting between vacuum-sealed hotel rooms in diffent countries (Bahamas, Nicaragua, Toronto, London, etc.), yet whose name continued to command terror and respect among presidents and governors.
As I read this book, there were many Hughes habits that I found deeply endearing, even as the weird details mounted. How can you not like a guy who, in the pre-VCR era, decided to buy the local Nevada TV station, just so they'd play the movies he wanted? Who - upon installing his home entertainment system - had an obsessive-compulsive need to watch the epic 1968 thriller "Ice Station Zebra" over and over again? (It's a good movie, after all.) Who bought up half of the real estate of Nevada in a doomed expectation of a world gold shortage? Or who lent his name to the ocean-dredging vessel, Glomar Explorer, to aid the CIA's covert attempts to refloat a Soviet sub? And there was something genuinely visionary about the way he built his aircraft and electronics empires. Indeed, despite the piles of carefully-compiled evidence of financial disasters at TWA, RKO, Air West and Summa Corporation, somehow I want to believe that Hughes was not the bungling sicko that emerges from these pages, but so what if he was, the story remains magnificent.
As a postscript, every time you see a DirectTV advertisement, remember that it used to be a Hughes company.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Demise of an Empire
Comment: Donald Bartlett and James Steel's book, "Empire: The Life, Legend, and Madness of Howard Hughes" is an excellent example of journalistic reporting converted into book form. The book is simply fascinating. The authors accomplish the gargantuan task of separating fact from fiction in the very complex life of Howard Hughes. "Empire" is impeccably researched and documented; It is a bona fide biography that reads more like fiction than real life-such was the world of Howard Hughes.
"Empire" traces the rise and tragic fall of Howard Hughes; a man who wore many hats, he was an aviator, Hollywood movie producer, Las Vegas hotel/casino owner ... and a recluse. For one brief shining moment, Hughes was considered one of America's premier aviators, breaking flying records, but then falling out of grace with government and the aviation industry for breaking contract deadlines. In the long run, Howard Hughes would become a grand failure in the world of big business.
Bartlett and Steel show the reader a man who had everything to live for, good looks, fame, fortune, power and prestige, but he was unable to triumph over his social and physical phobias that led to psychological, emotional, and physical illnesses and to his final descent into the dwellings of the insane. Hughes' deep mistrust of all people-even family, worked against him and led to his demise and the lose of his billion dollar empire by the very people whose job it was to safeguard him and his empire.
By the time I finished reading "Empire: The Life, Legend, and Madness of Howard Hughes", I was much more accepting of my status as a non wealthy individual. Although Howard Hughes had everything a man could possibly wish for, he was underprivileged in peace of mind.... The authors do a superb job in separating fact from myth in the life of Howard Hughes. The book is worth reading.
Rating: 5
Summary: The best book on Howard Hughes
Comment: "Empire: The Life, Legend, and Madness of Howard Hughes" is indeed an empire within itself. This book manages to expose the life of a very seceretive and private man of power who lived in his own unique way in the world. An incredible book about an incredible man...
 |
Title: Hughes: The Private Diaries, Memos and Letters : The Definitive Biography of the First American Billionaire by Richard Hack ISBN: 1893224643 Publisher: New Millennium Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
 |
Title:Howard Hughes: His Women and His Movies ASIN: B00004Y7D0 Publisher: Fox Lorber Pub. Date: 07 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $24.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $22.48 |
 |
Title: J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets by Curt Gentry ISBN: 0393321282 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: February, 2001 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
 |
Title: Howard Hughes: The Untold Story by Peter H. Brown, Pat H. Broeske, Peter Harry Brown ISBN: 0525937854 Publisher: Penguin USA Pub. Date: 01 March, 1996 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
 |
Title: Howard Hughes And His Flying Boat by Charles Barton, Charles Barton ISBN: 0966317505 Publisher: Charles Barton Incorporated Pub. Date: February, 1998 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
