Little more than a
century ago, the southern coast of California — bone-dry, harbor-less, isolated
by deserts and mountain ranges — seemed destined to remain scrappy farmland.
Then, as if overnight, one of the world’s iconic cities emerged.
اضافة اعلان
At the heart of
Los Angeles’ meteoric rise were three flawed visionaries: William Mulholland,
D.W. Griffith, and Aimee Semple McPherson. Mulholland is an immigrant
ditch-digger turned self-taught engineer who designed the massive aqueduct that
would make urban life in LA possible. Griffith transformed the motion picture
from a vaudeville-house novelty into a cornerstone of American culture, giving
LA its signature industry. And McPherson is a charismatic evangelist who
founded a religion that cemented the city’s identity as a center for spiritual
exploration.
All were masters
of their craft, but also illusionists, of a kind. The images they conjured up —
of a blossoming city in the desert, of a factory of celluloid DreamWorks, of a
community of seekers finding personal salvation under the California sun — were
like mirages liable to evaporate on closer inspection.
All three would pay a steep price to
realize these dreams, but in a crescendo of hubris, scandal, and catastrophic
failure of design their personal empires were threatened. Yet when the dust
settled, the mirage that was LA remained.
Spanning the years
from 1900 to 1930,
the Mirage Factory is the enthralling tale of an improbable
city and the people who willed it into existence by pushing the limits of human
engineering and imagination.
Reviews
“(Krist) marshals
his considerable storytelling skills to capture Los Angeles at a critical
moment ... expertly weaving together the stories of Griffith, Mulholland, and
McPherson. ... But above all Krist is a nimble scene-setter, and it’s the
indelible details he offers that give The Mirage Factory its mesmerizing pull.
... You’ll finish it entertained, informed, and satisfied, as well as ready for
more.” — New York Times
“As a writer,
Krist is a dream-weaver ... exquisite pacing and seamless shifting between the
characters allow their stories to connect. ... I’ve read dozens of histories of
the Los Angeles Aqueduct, and none are as viscerally compelling or as clear in
detailed descriptions of the complicated machinations as Krist’s account. ...
Krist’s book is so good that, like the best movies, it ends up inverting the
genre.” — The Washington Post
“Colorful and
fresh ...The Mirage Factory is great not only for the wealth of obscure facts
Krist manages to weave into his tale of his three larger-than-life figures but
also for the evocative word pictures of old Los Angeles and Hollywood he
conjures up ... My only complaint after finishing the book was: more, please.” —
LA Weekly
“The crimes of Los
Angeles, in the hands of Gary Krist, have now filled a fat, juicy volume. ...
The Mirage Factory is essential reading for the understanding and enjoyment of
America’s dream factory.” — The Philadelphia Inquirer
“A definite
page-turner for those with an interest in LA as the booming metropolis we know
today as well as the fascinating cross-sections of the American West,
biography, public works, water access and scarcity, Hollywood and film
industry, religious history, and evangelism.” — Library Journal
About the author
Gary Krist has
written for the New York Times, Esquire, Salon, Washington Post Book World, and
elsewhere. He is the author of the bestselling Empire of Sin and City of
Scoundrels, as well as the acclaimed The White Cascade.
He has been the
recipient of the Stephen Crane Award, the Sue Kaufman Prize from the
American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Lowell Thomas Gold Medal for Travel Journalism,
and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
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