Empire

The Life, Legend, and Madness of Howard Hughes

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Empire

By: Donald L. Barlett, James B. Steele

Narrated by: Christopher Hurt

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About this listen

Howard Hughes lived one of the greatest, most heroic, misunderstood, mysterious, bizarre, and tragic lives in American history. In this brilliantly documented biography, the mythology that surrounded that life is disentangled from the truth.

Hughes had always been different. Certainly his riches set him apart, but he was also tough. Orphaned and a millionaire at 18, Hughes repudiated his relatives, seized control of the Hughes Tool Company, the linchpin of his fortune, and went on to become a flamboyant movie producer, holder of many world aviation records, principal owner of Trans World Airlines, a critically important defense contractor, Hollywood's most pursued and elusive bachelor, and partner of the United States government.

This is an epic biography of an epic figure who bestrode the world like a colossus yet could not master himself.

Entertainment & Celebrities

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Critic reviews

"Of all the books written about Howard Hughes, Empire is easily the best...." ( New York Times Book Review)
"A remarkable job of investigative reporting....cracks Hughes's public persona as it disentangles the psychodrama of his private doings...." ( Publishers Weekly)
"[The] most responsible and authoritative biography of Hughes to date." ( Newsweek)

Most relevant

Interesting, fluid account of the man they called HRH. Good reading too.

But.

There is a peculiar and unfortunate production technique used in the audobook. The reader speaks with two different voices, as if two people are reading the book in turn. Presumably this is meant to add emphasis or something. But its just annoying.

Nonetheless its still worth listening to.