Without the determination, magnetism, vision, good manners, respectable clothes, and financial security of Brian Epstein, no one would ever have heard of John, Paul, George, and Ringo. In Liverpool, in December 1961, Brian Epstein met the Beatles in his small office and signed a management deal. The rest may be history, but it’s a history that Epstein created, along with a blueprint for all pop groups since.

Out of the public eye, Epstein was flamboyant and charismatic. He drank, gambled compulsively, and took drugs to excess. But people remember his wit, charm, and capacity to inspire affection and loyalty. That’s when he wasn’t depressed, or even suicidal. Epstein was Jewish in a society filled with anti-Semitism. He was homosexual at a time when it was a crime to be gay, and from his teenage days to the end of his life he suffered arrests, beatings, and blackmail—all of which had to be kept secret.

This book tells the story of Epstein’s complicated life through the reminiscences of his friends and family. Based on dozens of interviews—with Paul McCartney, George Martin, and Marianne Faithfull, among others—plus many of Epstein’s personal diaries, this book uncovers the truth behind the enigmatic young man who unintentionally caused a cultural revolution, and in the process destroyed himself.