Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness

by Donald L. Barlett & James B. Steele
Category: "Arts and Entertainment"
Pages:627
Year of Publication:1979
Date Added:08/12/2006
Date Read:10/10/2005
Notes:Proof that with enough money, a man can be every kind of idiot there is. At 19, Hughes inherited the oil-well drill manufacturing company that his father started. The company made tons of money, and Hughes, for the most part, ignored it. He went to Hollywood and spent his time making movies, hanging out with actresses and flying airplanes. As an aviator, he had something of genius, but not as a businessman.

The tool company financed all his extravagance. Everything else he touched was a flop — his airplane company (which created the Spruce Goose), his casinos, his management of TWA, his gold mining schemes. Everything lost millions. When he finally got out of the airplane industry, it was a tax dodge. He created a medical institute in Florida and gave the profits of Hughes Aviation to the institute. Without his leadership, the factory took off and became a leader in the aerospace industry.

By that time, Hughes had become a recluse, squirreled away in a series of hotels, taking massive quantities of drugs and watching movies in the nude. He never took showers or brushed his teeth, but insisted in thousands of lengthy memos, that his staff do everything possible and then some to avoid any kind of germs. While Hughes destroyed himself, his employees, most of them Mormons, enriched themselves and lived expensive, corrupt lives with his money. When Hughes finally died without a will, the vast majority of his money was gone. After dealing with several fake wills, the courts awarded his money to his cousins.
My Rating: 6

Reviews for Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness

Review - Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness

The first third of the book was interesting, dealing with Hughes movies and record flights. (He held the speed record and the fastest time around the world.) But after Hughes became a recluse, the book mostly centered on the dealings of his employees and went into tedious details on remote connections to Watergate and other things. Hughes was a self-centered, unpleasant man and his demise was sickening to read about. I gave it a 6 because it was informative.

Reviewed by Roger on 2006-08-12 21:46:48

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