In 1931, at age twenty-four, Norton Simon invested $7,000 in a bankrupt juice bottling plant. His investment grew into Hunt Foods, which soon ruled California's canned tomatoes empire. With a rare ability to transform laggard companies into highly profitable enterprises, Simon went on to amass a huge fortune. Then, in his late forties, he turned to art collecting and built one of the greatest private collections since World War II.

Suzanne Muchnic has written an intimate and absorbing biography of this powerful and complex man and at the same time provided a thoughtful overview of Los Angeles culture in the postwar years.