Howard Hughes: Hidn Yrs

by James Phelan

Book Overview

Pages clean and unmarked. Shelf wear from time on shelf like you would see on a major chain. Immediate shipping This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394410424
• ISBN13: 9780394410425
• Release Date: December 1976
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 217 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.

Customer Reviews

An impressionable read upon a young mind

I was in high school in 1977 when I checked this book out from our public library. I was mesmerized by this tale of madness & chaos that was Howard Hughes life in the end. So much that I bought my own copy some 44 years later. Read it if you’re able to. You won’t be disappointed!

The Darkest Chapters Of A Legendary American Tragedy

I think I originally got a copy of this book at Goodwill, probably 50 of the best cents I ever spent on anything. This is a seriously terrifying and incredible book, documenting the last 20 years of Howard Hughes' life, from the point when the billionaire's obsessive-compulsive disorder began to dominate his everyday existence - basically right where Martin Scorsese's terrific 2004 bio-pic of Hughes' earlier years, The Aviator, leaves things off. (Although written in 1977, you can almost imagine author James Phelan's picking up the story at the very moment where Scorsese leaves Leonardo DiCaprio-as-Howard Hughes at the movie's end, locked and isolated in a darkened restroom, physically scarred by his near-death aviation experiences, driven to paranoia by constant Congressional investigations, unable to stop muttering to himself, "the way of the future...") Phelan's biography concentrates on the darkest chapters of Hughes' life - how his unbelievable wealth allowed him to fight off all medical treatments and exams and instead sequester himself for years at a time in totally secluded hotel rooms in Las Vegas, Canada and South America, suffering in an almost Beckett-esque cyclical daily hell of obsession with minutiae, paperwork and personal hygiene, all the while allowing his immediate surroundings to deteriorate month after month to skid-row-junkie levels of filth - incredibly, with wait staff at his 24-hour beck and call right around the corner. There would be days when Hughes would page his employees & have his soup sent back 40 times to be cooled down or re-heated again, to his exact specifications of temperature, with no questions asked. Phelan does a fantastic job of documenting Hughes' business' goings-on (to Hughes' knowledge as well as all the secretive transactions conducted behind his back by his company's CEO's). He also provides in well-organized chapters the incredible details of how Hughes' O.C.D., combined with his absolute access to financial capital, turned even the most minor and insignificant personal whims into major business obsessions - such as the time when Hughes tried to have his staff purchase a TV-dinner company so he could make sure there was only the type of fruit crisp on the dinner platter that he preferred, and no other varieties of fruit crisp. There were months when Hughes' insisted-upon state of self-neglection and enforced malnourishment made his physical state resemble that of (in Phelan's description) a W.W. II concentration camp victim, and Phelan doesn't shy away from researching and examining the worst aspects of this historic American tragedy. The sad, pathetic, yet completely engrossing story is given weight and depth by Phelan's impeccable writing style, which is simultaneously evocative, informative and to the point, and the very best sort of biographical journalism. Highly recommended.

Worth a 2nd read

After watching "The Aviator," my interest in Hughes was piqued, and I subsequently picked up this book again, after first reading it in the late 70's. I consumed it in a day this time. It hasn't lost its relevance and intrigue after all these years. The story of Hughes remains equally fascinating and tragic. This book captures and relates that atmosphere splendidly. Phelan is a professional writer who crafts his material well.