From the Publisher
"If it were a film, it would be as exciting as The Bourne Identity"
-New York Times Bestselling Author Jim Hougan
"Age of Secrets is intriguing"
-Las Vegas Sun
"John Meier's life straight from a John LeCarre thriller...If you are at all interested in the use and abuse of power in high places, this book is a must"
-Vancouver Sun
"A spellbinding account of the Watergate break-in, corruption in the Nixon White House, and the insidious control government has over its people"
-Delta Optimist
Rated one of the top 10 best books on both Watergate and Nixon and "The best inside view of what really happened to Hughes and his empire in print"
-Probe Magazine
"This tragic story of international intrigue, of abuse of the political and judicial systems of two great nations did not take place in some far-away foreign land, but right here in our own back yard."
-Former Member and Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Canadian Politician Walter Davidson
"John Meier has been persecuted by agents of the American government and threatened by criminal elements in the U.S. and is The Man Who Knew Too Much About Too Many Bad People."
-Former United States Presidential Candidate and United States Senator Mike Gravel
Kirkus Reviews
2024-01-04
Bellett explores the untold story of an American financier’s role in shaping 20th-century history in this debut nonfiction work.
The author, a reporter for the Vancouver Sun, first became acquainted with John Meier in 1974, and has since written extensively about the business consultant’s role in post–World War II history. As a close confidant of the enigmatic Howard Hughes, Meier oversaw multimillion- dollar business deals on behalf of the reclusive billionaire. In addition to providing an overview of Meier’s life, this book claims that “Hughes’ most trusted courtier” was also one of the most important political figures of the 1970s, playing a central role in taking down President Richard Nixon. Per Bellett, “It was Meier who poured the poison into Nixon’s ear which led to Watergate.” In Meier’s account, he told Nixon’s younger brother that Larry O’Brien (chair of the Democratic National Committee) knew about illicit campaign donations from Hughes to the president’s reelection campaign, which prompted an increasingly paranoid Nixon team to break into the DNC headquarters to cover them up. Meier faced a bevy of legal troubles and accusations of tax evasion in the late 1970s. These difficulties were, the book asserts, retribution for his dealings with Nixon, part of a revenge campaign led by embittered federal agents who, per Meier, “ruined my reputation” and “persecuted me in the press and the courtroom.” An award-winning journalist, Bellett is a gifted storyteller who skillfully weaves a narrative rife with intrigue and political drama. The strength of the book is the way in which it presents Meier’s story from his own perspective, based largely on his unpublished diaries. Some readers may be skeptical of the text’s hagiographic bent: Not only is the book dedicated to Meier (referred to by the author as “The Living Legend”), but Meier himself contributes the afterword. Many of the book’s 22 chapters only feature a handful of endnotes for references, relying mostly on Meier’s perception of events, which may be problematic for readers looking for a more balanced account.
An engaging, if not always objective, counternarrative to the 20th century’s most notorious political scandal.
