Scan barcode
gjmaupin's review against another edition
3.0
Feeling generous so didn’t go with 2 stars. Generous research but too much repetitive detail, and tonally kind of befuddling. But some good stuff buried in there and the notion of capsule bios of the women in question was far (FAR) more interesting than (another) full Hughes bio.
megacool24's review against another edition
4.0
I thought this book was fascinating not only in capturing history through the points of view of women entangled in the life of Howard Hughes, but also for how that history is reflected in our own time. The narratives surrounding female film stars, and women in general, today are not radically different than they were in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and on. What Longworth is able to do is show through a series of portraits of women involved with Hughes is how different women were able to shape, or be shaped by those narratives. It is a beautiful work of empathy and respect for the women caught in the net of one powerful and insane man's lies.
andtheitoldyousos's review against another edition
4.0
You've seen The Aviator, yes? If not, maybe you know that it's about Howard Hughes? Yes- the Spruce Goose guy. Yes, the keep on failing upwards guy. Yes, the "keep your pee in jars" guy. We've all heard or seen at least a little bit about Howard Hughes. His reach was wide and heavy, and he swept away businesses, careers, and entire studios in his wake.
Karina Longworth, author of Seduction and podcaster extraordinaire, covered Howard Hughes's Hollywood during a whole season of her phenomenal podcast a few years back. The podcast, You Must Remember This, is a dishy and thoughtful examination of the olden days of Hollywood. If you have any interest in Tinsel Town history, you have to make it a must-listen. It's also jam packed full of American and media history in general, and the production levels are always very high. Longworth is a pro; she is always spinning many plates, and she never lets them drop.
So why read Seduction if Hughes was already covered on You Must Remember This? Well, Hughes may be in the title, and his exploits provide the framework, but Seduction digs much deeper through his mythos and offers up the stories of the people - mostly all young women - that he trampled on his way to the top. Hughes was a user and abuser of women for his entire life. He was controlling, vindictive, violent, and exploitative. He was, in many ways, the distillation of all terrible male behavior in Hollywood. Men wanted to be him, women wanted to be released from his control.
Many women were wrapped up in his marionette strings for his decades in power; he courted, promoted, created, stalked and/or controlled Jean Peters, Billie Dove, Ginger Rogers, Ida Lupino, Katharine Hepburn, Ava Gardner, Lana Turner, Jean Russell, Jane Harlow, and Ingrid Bergman - just to name a few. In this review they exist as a list; which is frequently how they show up in accounts of Hughes's life. Longworth gives them time and space to breathe and exist beyond his grubby hands. Longworth looks back with history on her side to tell the real- and frequently unfair- stories of these women. Who they were, what they wanted, who they loved, and what they could be.
I highly recommend that you check this out if you are interested in anything surrounding Hollywood in the first half of the 20th century, and I must insist that you listen to the audio- which is of course performed by Longworth herself. If you aren't feeling the Howard Hughes angle- which I totally get, dude was King Creep, please do check out her podcast none the less! The series on Charles Manson's Hollywood gives so much perspective beyond just. Helter Skelter, and her recent series on P0lly Platt was a revelation.
Karina Longworth, author of Seduction and podcaster extraordinaire, covered Howard Hughes's Hollywood during a whole season of her phenomenal podcast a few years back. The podcast, You Must Remember This, is a dishy and thoughtful examination of the olden days of Hollywood. If you have any interest in Tinsel Town history, you have to make it a must-listen. It's also jam packed full of American and media history in general, and the production levels are always very high. Longworth is a pro; she is always spinning many plates, and she never lets them drop.
So why read Seduction if Hughes was already covered on You Must Remember This? Well, Hughes may be in the title, and his exploits provide the framework, but Seduction digs much deeper through his mythos and offers up the stories of the people - mostly all young women - that he trampled on his way to the top. Hughes was a user and abuser of women for his entire life. He was controlling, vindictive, violent, and exploitative. He was, in many ways, the distillation of all terrible male behavior in Hollywood. Men wanted to be him, women wanted to be released from his control.
Many women were wrapped up in his marionette strings for his decades in power; he courted, promoted, created, stalked and/or controlled Jean Peters, Billie Dove, Ginger Rogers, Ida Lupino, Katharine Hepburn, Ava Gardner, Lana Turner, Jean Russell, Jane Harlow, and Ingrid Bergman - just to name a few. In this review they exist as a list; which is frequently how they show up in accounts of Hughes's life. Longworth gives them time and space to breathe and exist beyond his grubby hands. Longworth looks back with history on her side to tell the real- and frequently unfair- stories of these women. Who they were, what they wanted, who they loved, and what they could be.
I highly recommend that you check this out if you are interested in anything surrounding Hollywood in the first half of the 20th century, and I must insist that you listen to the audio- which is of course performed by Longworth herself. If you aren't feeling the Howard Hughes angle- which I totally get, dude was King Creep, please do check out her podcast none the less! The series on Charles Manson's Hollywood gives so much perspective beyond just. Helter Skelter, and her recent series on P0lly Platt was a revelation.
megthegrand's review against another edition
4.0
Howard Hughes was a total jerk, and damn, if he wasn't awful to every person he ever came across, but this book was fantastic and full of all the Hollywood details you could ever want.
flufficorn's review
challenging
emotional
informative
medium-paced
5.0
Being a big fan of You Must Remember This, the podcast by the author Karina Longworth, I have been looking forward to this book for a while. I have listened to the entire podcast series she did on Hughes and knew that this was going to be a deeper dive into his life and legacy. I was not disappointed.
I always knew Hughes was not great. This book reveals he was actually truly awful. I balked so many times at how he interacted with the women in his life. I compared these stories constantly to how far we have/have not come when it comes to misogyny. It was difficult for me to not have some empathy for what a lot of these women endured, and anger that there is nothing I can do about it now. It is also somehow both chilling and not surprising at all that the behavior espoused by Hughes was so early in the creation of Hollywood that it is now foundational, and something that we are still dealing with 100+ years later.
With all that said, do not think that I think this is a bad book. My 5 star rating stands. The book is informative and told in an timeline that makes sense. Good books should give us an emotional reaction, and make us consider our world and our thoughts about that world. This book has done that for me.
If you are interested in Old Hollywood History, this is a great book. I would recommend you listen to the Howard Hughes series in You Must Remember This before you start here, as that series is basically a Howard Hughes 101 and this book is Howard Hughes 200.
I always knew Hughes was not great. This book reveals he was actually truly awful. I balked so many times at how he interacted with the women in his life. I compared these stories constantly to how far we have/have not come when it comes to misogyny. It was difficult for me to not have some empathy for what a lot of these women endured, and anger that there is nothing I can do about it now. It is also somehow both chilling and not surprising at all that the behavior espoused by Hughes was so early in the creation of Hollywood that it is now foundational, and something that we are still dealing with 100+ years later.
With all that said, do not think that I think this is a bad book. My 5 star rating stands. The book is informative and told in an timeline that makes sense. Good books should give us an emotional reaction, and make us consider our world and our thoughts about that world. This book has done that for me.
If you are interested in Old Hollywood History, this is a great book. I would recommend you listen to the Howard Hughes series in You Must Remember This before you start here, as that series is basically a Howard Hughes 101 and this book is Howard Hughes 200.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity, Racism, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Addiction, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Dementia, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Car accident, Drug use, Death, Cursing, Sexism, and Toxic relationship
lakecake's review against another edition
3.0
I won a copy of this through Goodreads Giveaways.
This is a really thorough look into exactly what it's title says: Sex, Lies and Stardom in Howard Hughes's Hollywood." It's not a super thorough look into Howard Hughes, though it gives the basics, nor any of the starlets that he wooed, seduced and lied to during his time trying to influence the film industry. It's also not a super thorough look into Hollywood, though it again gives a pretty decent look into a particular period of time. If you are already well-versed in any of these topics, Seduction will give you more depth for your knowledge base. If you're not (I was not), this is a really good "starter" volume into all of it, and will likely whet your appetite for some more in-depth information. Since I received an early-reader's copy, it didn't have any photos in it which I'm assuming/hoping that the final version has, and my reading experience suffered some because of it. I was googling images of a lot of things since I didn't have easy access to them in front of me, and it made the story a lot richer for me to have them. Overall, this is an excellently researched and well-written look at the subject, and it's served a great purpose in that I want to now go try to find some more information about everything in here. It suffers slightly from a supposition that readers will have a fairly deep knowledge of 1920s to 1950s-era Hollywood, and therefore there are some time jumps that were confusing to me along with some glossing over of films because the idea is that I would already know those details. I didn't, so it required a little more research on my own end. Either way, well worth a read.
This is a really thorough look into exactly what it's title says: Sex, Lies and Stardom in Howard Hughes's Hollywood." It's not a super thorough look into Howard Hughes, though it gives the basics, nor any of the starlets that he wooed, seduced and lied to during his time trying to influence the film industry. It's also not a super thorough look into Hollywood, though it again gives a pretty decent look into a particular period of time. If you are already well-versed in any of these topics, Seduction will give you more depth for your knowledge base. If you're not (I was not), this is a really good "starter" volume into all of it, and will likely whet your appetite for some more in-depth information. Since I received an early-reader's copy, it didn't have any photos in it which I'm assuming/hoping that the final version has, and my reading experience suffered some because of it. I was googling images of a lot of things since I didn't have easy access to them in front of me, and it made the story a lot richer for me to have them. Overall, this is an excellently researched and well-written look at the subject, and it's served a great purpose in that I want to now go try to find some more information about everything in here. It suffers slightly from a supposition that readers will have a fairly deep knowledge of 1920s to 1950s-era Hollywood, and therefore there are some time jumps that were confusing to me along with some glossing over of films because the idea is that I would already know those details. I didn't, so it required a little more research on my own end. Either way, well worth a read.
trop_de_livres's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.0
I listened to the audiobook because I'm a fan of Karina's podcast You Must Remember This, and her voice is like an old friend to my ears. This is a fascinating deep dive into Howard Hughes's life and his influence in Hollywood. I had not previously realized just how much influence he had and all the disturbing things he did. I would love to know more about all the women mentioned in the book, some of whom were mega stars and are all but forgotten today, like Billie Dove. This book is perfect for fans of Hollywood history... you will want to go down many rabbit holes while reading it!
jeffreyreads's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars. I love Karina Longworth and her podcast You Must Remember This, but this book seemed to be less about Howard Hughes being garbage and more just an opportunity for her to analyze more niche trivia about Old Hollywood for 500 pages.