The meticulously documented exposé of a celebrated American philanthropist - and traitor - that reads like a classic thriller. New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year Winner of the Financial Times Book Award The dossier on Hammer tells another story. With unprecedented access to the files of both American and Soviet intelligence agencies as well as Hammer's own secretly taped conversations, investigative author Edward Jay Epstein lays bare the appalling fraud, unconscionable corruption, international treachery, and personal betrayal that indict beyond doubt this ruthlessly manipulative opportunist who courted American presidents and conspired with every Soviet leader from Lenin to Gorbachev. "A morbidly fascinating compound of ambition, greed, unscrupulousness, and power hunger . It is hard to imagine a sharper picture of how a tycoon is both born and made and how the power game is played." - New York Times Book Review "What a story! . Read this extraordinary book." - Wall Street Journal "An arrestingly written and brilliantly researched biography" - Washington Post "Compelling" - Vanity Fair "A chilling book" - Forbes.