Dossier

Edward Jay Epstein's investigation into the life of Armand Hammer exposes a tale of fraud, corruption, and personal betrayal that was carried out on such a grand scale and over such a long period of time that it is surely unique. Hammer was ninety-two when he died in 1990. A lengthy front-page obituary in The New York Times lauded him as a successful businessman "who long sought peace between the United States and the Soviet Union and financed research for a cancer cure." His philanthropy was noted, along with his vast art collection and his elevated social connections. But the official version of Hammer's life, which incorporated many of the major figures and key events of the twentieth century, was in fact a myth, carefully nurtured and embellished for nearly seventy years.