The "Star Trek" phenomenon has grown since its creation by Gene Roddenberry, into several successful television series, numerous feature films, and a multi-million dollar merchandizing industry, including over 100 novels. This biography of Roddenberry exposes him as a contradictory and obsessive personality. Roddenberry created a vision of the future in which personal conflicts, sexism and racism are eradicated and decency and rationalism prevail. This vision proved to have worldwide appeal. But this book reveals that Roddenberry himself was beset by many of the failings he wished to see eliminated. As Joel Engel recounts the story of the creation and development of "Star Trek", drawing on over 100 sources including many of the writers, directors and stars of the "Star Trek" shows and movies, he reveals the womanising, the drinking, the drug-taking, the paranoia and the betrayals of the man behind the myth.