"David Nasaw's biography of William Randolph Hearst is largely based on private and business papers and interviews that were unavailable to previous biographers. Newly released documentation of Hearst's interactions with Hitler, Mussolini, Churchill, and every American president from Grover Cleveland to Franklin Roosevelt, as well as with movie giants Louis B. Mayer, Jack Warner, and Irving Thalberg, completes the picture of this colossal American.".

"Nasaw's portrait also addresses Hearst's relationships, including those with his mistress in his Harvard days and for years after; with his wife, Millicent, the mother of his five sons; and with Marion Davies, his companion until death. Correspondence with the architect of Hearst's California estate, San Simeon, is augmented by taped interviews with the people who worked there and witnessed Hearst's extravagant entertaining, shedding light on the private life of a very public man."--BOOK JACKET.