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Summary
Summary
The Hiltons is a sweeping saga of the success-and excess-of an iconic American family.
Demanding and enigmatic, patriarch Conrad Hilton's visionary ideas and unyielding will established the model for the modern luxury hotel industry. But outside the boardroom, Conrad struggled with emotional detachment, failed marriages, and conflicted Catholicism. Then there were his children: Playboy Nicky Hilton's tragic alcoholism and marriage to Elizabeth Taylor was the stuff of tabloid legend. Barron Hilton, on the other hand, deftly handled his father's legacy, carrying the Hilton brand triumphantly into the new millennium.
Eric, raised apart from his older brothers, accepted his supporting role in the Hilton dynasty with calm and quiet-a stark contrast to the boys' much younger half-sister Francesca, whose battle for recognition led her into courtrooms and conflict. The cast of supporting players includes the inimitable Zsa Zsa Gabor, who was married to Conrad briefly and remained a thorn in his side for decades, and a host of other Hollywood and business luminaries with whom the Hiltons crossed paths and swords over the years.
Author Notes
Bestselling author and news reporter J. Randy Taraborrelli was born on February 29, 1956. His biographies have focused on celebrities such as Cher, Carol Burnett, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Madonna, Elizabeth Taylor, and Marilyn Monroe. His biography called The Hiltons: The True Story of an American Dynasty, made it to the New York Times bestseller list in 2014. His latest book is Jackie, Janet & Lee: The Secret Lives of Janet Auchincloss and Her Daughters, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill, published in January 2018.
Taraborrelli has been a guest on television programs including Today, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Larry King Live, Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, and CNN. He also contributes entertainment articles internationally to Hello!, The Daily Mail and Sunday Mail, and Australia's Women's Weekly.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This detail-rich and substantial rags-to-riches history of the Hiltons makes for a solid and engaging audiobook. Tarborrelli traces Conrad Hilton's rise to hotel magnate, along with all the challenges, scandals, and complex relationships that accompanied his family through the decades. Stage actor Petkoff has a matter-of-fact delivery, with clear projection and restrained emotions. He keeps a steady pace and can identify the proper emphasis of a scene, but keeps a distance from the text, allowing it to stand on its own. Occasionally, such as when the book quotes its subjects, he draws out scenes with a more deliberation for dramatic effect. He's a strong choice for this production, which clocks it at nearly 20 hours, and will keep listeners engaged through the end. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A best-selling celebrity biographer chronicles the epic saga of a family as well known for its business empire as for its role as tabloid fodder.Today, the Hilton name might be more synonymous with gossip magazine headlines than the now-ubiquitous hotel chain that has outposts in every major city across the world. No longer is there a charismatic figurehead to act as the family's anchor or face of the company, as founder and family patriarch Conrad Hilton (1887-1979) once had been. We can only speculate how Conrad, a man of deep Catholic conviction and faith who was known to openly resent freeloading relatives, would react to the unseemly behavior of some of his heirs. Nevertheless, Taraborrelli (After Camelot: A Personal History of the Kennedy Family1968 to the Present, 2012, etc.) gives each Hilton family member his or her due. From Conrad's tempestuous marriage to Zsa Zsa Gabor to son Nicky's ill-fated and abusive marriage to a nubile Elizabeth Taylor, the Hilton name has often found itself mired in social controversy. All the while, the Hilton brand of hotels continued to grow exponentially, developing into an international juggernaut. When Conrad's son Barron retired as CEO of the Hilton Hotel Corporation in 1996, the family's control of the company remained mostly symbolic until Blackstone Group, a private equity group, purchased the entire corporation in 2007 for $20.1 billion. No longer is a Hilton family member steering the empire built by Conrad. Instead, the family controls the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to support various charitable causes and missions to fulfill Conrad's vision of building a better world.More than fluff, Taraborrelli has written the definitive biography of a family whose glory days may have passed but which simply refuses to recede into the background. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Taraborrelli is a journalist and celebrity biographer. His family saga of the Hiltons is filled with enticing gossip as well as well-documented, if sometimes tawdry, facts about various members. The founder of the hotel empire, Conrad Hilton, was certainly an interesting, in some ways admirable, but enigmatic character. Taraborrelli portrays him as a true visionary capable of thinking and dreaming on a large scale while keeping a firm hold upon economic realities. Yet he seems to have been a tortured soul who lacked a personal touch and, consequently, could not win affection or loyalty from business associates or family members. His successors, however, were not particularly interesting, and the author seems to be straining to make them worthy of his attention. Son Nicky, for example, best known as the first husband of Elizabeth Taylor, was a shallow, self-absorbed alcoholic; the current celebrity Hilton, Paris, seems both the perpetrator and the victim of her thirst for public attention. Taraborrelli is a good writer, who, in this case, would have benefited from more compelling subjects.--Freeman, Jay Copyright 2014 Booklist
