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.

Howard Hughes, once the wealthiest man in the world. Handsome. Daring. Reclusive. Movie producer. Aviation pioneer. Then one fateful day his plane crashed and his world was one of pain. He found relief in drugs and came to rely on them more and more. He became reclusive and inaccessible. He surrounded himself with people to help him create an asylum against the outside world. But they turned it into an asylum of another kind. Hughes turned to the one man he knew he could trust to help him preserve his privacy and retain his freedom. That man became Howard's most trusted confidant and friend, Jack Real. Real tried valiantly to save Hughes from himself and his guards. It was an impossible job but one that Jack G. Real gave his all to accomplish. This is his Story.

George J. Marrett, a former test pilot for aviator Howard Hughes, separates fact from fiction to tell the inside story of the genius who set flight speed records in the 1930s and went on to develop some of America’s most famous aircraft and weapons. The author draws on his wealth of experiences and those of other Hughes confidants to take readers inside Hughes’s complex and clandestine world. Marrett integrates stories of Hughes the ace pilot with Hughes the designer and businessman who became America’s first billionaire.

"People everywhere have heard of the eccentric Howard Hughes, but few know that in 1953 he virtually disappeared from the company he had begun in 1932. Under new, creative, and inspired management, Hughes Aircraft Company became the leading military electronics organization in the world and rose to 85,000 employees. Some called it a national treasure. In this new 496-page book, Hughes Aircraft Company's past president Ken Richardson shows how this was done. Collaborating with over 60 past employees, Ken has compiled this remarkable piece of American aviation history. Learn about many complex products in all fields of electronics crafted by this highly motivated, inventive team."--Publisher's website.

Nobody was closer to the source of Howard Hughes's vast influence than Robert Maheu, and nobody witnessed his catastrophic descent more closely. Maheu made all Hughes's business deals and represented him and his holdings to the outside world for 13 years. Now he tells the shocking true story behind the life and death of this powerful man. Photographs.

Terry Moore, film star and Hughes' former wife, brings to life the lusty, steamy, romantic side of this enigmatic figure, revealing a gentler side of the man remembered by most people solely for his eccentricites and personal excesses. From the gutter to the glitter of Hollywood on opening night, their time together was the stuff of which dreams were made. Photos.