Transcript
Introduction
"He was a film director, a producer, a test pilot, inventor, investor, and entrepreneur. And for most of his life, he was considered to be the richest man in America. At a time when being a millionaire was rare, Hughes had several billion dollars. That alone would have made him intriguing, but Hughes a lore was about far more than money. To unravel his story, he required the help of hundreds of journalists, lawyers, doctors, investigators, archivers, librarians, acquaintances, and lovers, each contributing pieces of the grand puzzle of Hughes.
In addition to interviews, court transcripts, and depositions, Hughes' own original papers were examined. While he never kept the private diary as such, he wrote over 8,000 pages of memos, notes, letters, and instructions that chronicled his loves, hates, fears, and frustrations. Recently declassified FBI and CIA files were also analyzed, 2,500 pages of detailed surveillance reports. Likewise, over 100,000 pages of sealed legal briefs, corporate records, and inventories were uncovered and read in an effort to gain entrance into the mind and life of this ultimate outsider. The result of years of research, this book tears away the facade that Hughes worked his entire life to create and reveals a man so complex that, during his life, he remained an illusion even to the few who knew him best. It is a story that only he could tell of a life so extraordinary that it can be found recounted nowhere else."