Citizen Hughes by Howard Hughes, Michael Drosnin (2004, Paperback, Reprint)

Howard Hughes’s reputation as the ultimate mystery man has never left the public imagination, and with the release of the Scorsese/DiCaprio film a whole new generation will be captivated by this larger-than-life figure. But if they want the true facts of the man’s life—in his own words—there is only one place to turn: this explosive book.

At the height of his wealth, power, and invisibility, Howard Hughes kept what amounted to a diary. The billionaire commanded his empire by correspondence, scrawling thousands of handwritten memos to unseen henchmen. It was the only time the world’s richest and most secretive man risked writing down his orders, plans, thoughts, fears and desires. Hughes claimed the papers were so sensitive—“the very most confidential, almost sacred information as to my innermost activities”—that not even his most trusted aides or executives were allowed to keep the messages he sent them.

But in the early-morning hours of June 5, 1974, unknown burglars staged a daring break-in at Hughes’s supposedly impregnable headquarters and escaped with all the confidential files. Despite a top-secret FBI investigation and a million-dollar CIA buyback bid, none of the stolen secret papers were ever found—until investigative reporter Michael Drosnin cracked the case.

In CITIZEN HUGHES, Drosnin reveals the true story of the great Hughes heist—and of the real Howard Hughes. Based on nearly 10,000 never-before-published documents, more than 3,000 in Hughes’s own handwriting, CITIZEN HUGHES is far more than a biography, or even an unwilling autobiography. It is a startling record of the secret history of our times.