{"product_id":"2026100009897-secondhand-empire-the-life-legend-and-madness-of-howard-hughes","title":"Empire: The Life, Legend, And Madness Of Howard Hughes","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: Worn\/faded, no tears\u003cbr\u003ePages: Tanning and foxing\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFew lives in the twentieth century were as dazzling, turbulent, and ultimately tragic as that of Howard Hughes — aviator, billionaire, film mogul, and recluse — whose extraordinary arc from golden boy to paranoid hermit remains one of America's most compelling cautionary tales. Empire: The Life, Legend, and Madness of Howard Hughes, by Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalists Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, chronicles the full sweep of Hughes's life with forensic precision, from his early triumphs breaking aviation speed records and producing Hollywood blockbusters to his catastrophic psychological decline behind the blackened windows of his Las Vegas penthouse.\n\nDrawing on thousands of previously sealed documents, court records, and first-hand interviews, Barlett and Steele dismantle the carefully constructed mythology surrounding Hughes to present a portrait of a man simultaneously brilliant and broken. Their prose is relentless and authoritative, wielding the tools of investigative journalism to expose the corporate machinations, political bribery, and personal obsessions that shaped — and ultimately consumed — a uniquely American empire. A landmark work of biographical non-fiction, it leaves the reader asking a question that echoes long after the final page: where does genius end and madness begin?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49203394904283,"sku":"2026100009897-SECONDHAND","price":20.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/bbf58271-a178-410f-8935-1b557f08233c.png?v=1788148545","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026100009897-secondhand-empire-the-life-legend-and-madness-of-howard-hughes","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}