We see that javascript is disabled or not supported by your browser - javascript is needed for important actions on the site. Read more

What's New - Home - Login

Member $avings: $81,581,807.51 | Books Available: 793,495 | Members Online: 244

Swap Used Books - Buy New Books at Great Prices!

How To Swap Books Sign Up Search submenu

PBS Market (New Books)

Gift Buying Guide

Book Browser Advanced Search Books Posted Today Member Book Reviews Award Winning Books NYT Best Sellers Amazon Best Sellers Most Traveled Copies Club Wish List

Discussion Forums Book Lists

Club Lists My Book Lists My Watched Lists Create a List

Blog Donations

School Donation Program In Memory of... Military Donation Program Friends of PBS

Box-O-Books Maps The Eclectic Pen Fun Stuff

20 Questions Sudoku Bookmark Creator

Top 100

Requests Posts Swappers Referrers Reviewers

Pulse of PBS Spread The Word

Invite Friends Bookmarks Facebook Page Facebook App More Ways...

Photo Gallery Recipes Club Tag Cloud Member Testimonials

Help Center submenu

How To Swap Books Browse Help Docs Ask the Librarian PBS Member Icons Live Help

Kiosk

PBS Market (New Books) Go Shopping Buy Credits Buy PBS Money Upgrade Membership Gift Certificates Transfer Credits

Need Help?

Search - West of Eden: An American Place

West of Eden An American Place
Author: Jean Stein

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ? An epic, mesmerizing oral history of Hollywood and Los Angeles from the author of the contemporary classic Edie — Jean Stein transformed the art of oral history in her groundbreaking book Edie: American Girl, an indelible portrait of Andy Warhol ?superstar? Edie Sedgwick, which was edited with George Plimpton. Now, in ... more »West of Eden, she turns to Los Angeles, the city of her childhood. Stein vividly captures a mythic cast of characters: their ambitions and triumphs as well as their desolation and grief.

These stories illuminate the bold aspirations of five larger-than-life individuals and their families. West of Eden is a work of history both grand in scale and intimate in detail. At the center of each family is a dreamer who finds fortune and strife in Southern California: Edward Doheny, the Wisconsin-born oil tycoon whose corruption destroyed the reputation of a U.S. president and led to his own son?s violent death; Jack Warner, the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants, who together with his brothers founded one of the world?s most iconic film studios; Jane Garland, the troubled daughter of an aspiring actress who could never escape her mother?s schemes; Jennifer Jones, an actress from Oklahoma who won the Academy Award at twenty-five but struggled with despair amid her fame and glamour. Finally, Stein chronicles the ascent of her own father, Jules Stein, an eye doctor born in Indiana who transformed Hollywood with the creation of an unrivaled agency and studio.

In each chapter, Stein paints a portrait of an outsider who pins his or her hopes on the nascent power and promise of Los Angeles. Each individual?s unyielding intensity pushes loved ones, especially children, toward a perilous threshold. West of Eden depicts the city that has projected its own image of America onto the world, in all its idealism and paradox. As she did in Edie, Jean Stein weaves together the personal recollections of an array of individuals to create an astonishing tapestry of a place like no other.

Praise for West of Eden

?Compulsively readable, capturing not just a vibrant part of the history of Los Angeles?that uniquely ?American Place? Stein refers to in her subtitle?but also the real drama of this town . . . It?s like being at an insider?s cocktail party where the most delicious gossip about the rich and powerful is being dished by smart people, such as Gore Vidal, Joan Didion, Arthur Miller and Dennis Hopper. . . . Mesmerizing.??Los Angeles Times

?Perhaps the most surprising thing that emerges from this riveting book is a glimpse of what seems like deep truth. It?s possible that oral history as Stein practices it . . . is as close as we?re going to come to the real story of anything.??The New York Times Book Review

?Enthralling . . . brings some of [L.A.?s] biggest personalities to life . . . As she did for Edie Sedgwick in Edie: American Girl, [Stein] harnesses a gossipy chorus of voices.??Vogue

?Even if you?re a connoisseur of Hollywood tales, you?ve probably never heard these. . . . As ever, gaudy, debauched, merciless Hollywood has the power to enthrall its audience.??The Wall Street Journal

?The tales of jaw-dropping excess, cruelty, and betrayal are the stuff of movies, and the pleasures are immense.??Vanity Fair

?This riveting oral history chronicles the development of Los Angeles, from oil boomtown to Tinseltown.??Entertainment Weekly (?Must List?)

From the Hardcover edition.

ISBN-13: 9780812987935
ISBN-10: 0812987934
Publication Date: 2/21/2017
Pages: 352
Edition: Reprint
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 2
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

Genres:

Arts & Photography >> Performing Arts
Biographies & Memoirs >> Arts & Literature >> Actors & Entertainers
Biographies & Memoirs >> Historical >> United States
History >> Americas >> United States >> State & Local
Humor & Entertainment >> Movies >> History & Criticism

Back to the Top ↑

Search - West of Eden: An American Place

Loading...