"The Carpetbaggers" by Harold Robbins (First Edition)

Attacked, damned, praised and read around the world, THE CARPETBAGGERS was first published in 1961 and shelved high enough that the kids couldn't get their hands on it.
Set in the aviation industry and Hollywood in the 1930s, it is said the lead protagonist Jonas Cord is based on Bill Lear and Howard Hughes. It is the original sex and money blockbuster: a cracking story driven relentlessly forward by the sheer power and boldness of Robbins' writing.