Armand Hammer, born in the United States in 1898 of Russian-born parents, has been for seventy years a unique player in Soviet-American relations. The details of his entrepreneurial adventures and his special access to Soviet leaders, from Lenin to Gorbachev, have been obscured in myth and calculated self-publicity. This biography has not answered all the questions, but it is an admirable effort that tells more about the subject than any other source.