Howard Hughes...any good books?

[Zach R.]

I was just wondering if any of you knew of any good books about Howard Hughes? I've heard tht the one by Peter Brown is pretty good, but I don't know about any of the other ones.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

The Peter Brown book is a lot of fun and reads very easily. Some of the dialogue has been quoted in "The Aviator." I highly recommend it. I read Donald L. Barlett and James Steele's book. It was more academic, but not nearly as fun. Still a good book.

Please stay away from Hingham's book. It is a deplorable piece of scandalous garbage. It is absolutely ridiculous. Hingham loathes Hughes and hurls every outrageous accusation at him you can imagine. The FBI had over 100,000 pages of research on Hughes, yet Hingham pretends to know more. I started it, then threw it in the garbage where it belonged.

 

[Twitch]

I have an old one titled Howard- The Amazing Mr. Hughes by his right hand man, Noah Deitrich which seemed good. Since it's older I think published in the 60s it is not focused on a lot of the tabloid sensationalism.

 

[PADDY]

Just bought the Peter Brown book

Just got a second hand version of the Peter Brown book on HRH. Looking forward to curling up in bed tonight with it and a hot mug of cocoa!

 

[PADDY]

The more I read this Hughes book, the more I can't put it down..!

And it explains so much of his 'strange' behaviour, which the movie really didn't have the time or inclination to go into. Also, I hadn't realised that he had been wed before meeting the likes of Katherine Hepburn. And he certainly didn't have any lack of willing ladies to warm his bed for him, although he seemed to just use them, rather than have any meaningful relationship with them. An interesting conundrum of a man, and this book is well worth a read if you want to get behind the mask of Howard Hughes.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Life, Legend and Madness of Howard Hughes...

I was just wondering if any of you knew of any good books about Howard Hughes? I've heard tht the one by Peter Brown is pretty good, but I don't know about any of the other ones.

THE book on HRH is the Bartlet & Steel, EMPIRE; Life, Legent and Madness. It's got every detail (including a great chapter on how he acquired Hughes Airwest!) I use it as a reference, I do! Here's the cover photo:

 

[Midnight Palace]

I thoroughly enjoyed the Peter Brown book. I reviewed it here:

http://www.midnightpalace.com/bookreview-howardhughes.htm

 

[LizzieMaine]

What do people think of the Richard Hack book? I picked it up off a remainder table a while ago, and for $4.95 figured I couldn't go wrong -- haven't read it yet though...

 

[AeroDillo]

Hack's book may be either good or mediocre, depending on what you're looking for. It tends to focus more on his social life and less on his achievements, and there's a couple of places I found aviation-related technical aspects that didn't quite ring up.

It wasn't quite what I was expecting. I'll have to look into Dietrich's book, though.

 

[Brian Sheridan]

Please stay away from Higham's book. It is a deplorable piece of scandalous garbage. It is absolutely ridiculous. Hingham loathes Hughes and hurls every outrageous accusation at him you can imagine. The FBI had over 100,000 pages of research on Hughes, yet Higham pretends to know more. I started it, then threw it in the garbage where it belonged.

Higham must have a tiny, black heart because all of his bios (Hughes, Flynn) are trashy, mud-throwing, efforts which accuses people who can no longer defend themselves of all sorts of garbage. I agree - the trash bin, not the book shelf, for his efforts.

 

[cgab1]

I agree. "Empire" is the best Hughes biography, in my opinion.

cgab

THE book on HRH is the Bartlet & Steel, EMPIRE; Life, Legent and Madness. It's got every detail (including a great chapter on how he acquired Hughes Airwest!) I use it as a reference, I do! Here's the cover photo: