April 1, 2018
The birth of modern-day Los Angeles viewed through the prism of three of its most ardent advocates.Krist carries forward the methodology he employed in his masterful portraits of Chicago (City of Scoundrels, 2012) and New Orleans (Empire of Sin, 2014), here applying his skills to LA, "the grand metropolis that never should have been." The fact that the sprawling megalopolis even exists today is something of a small miracle, partly made possible by the early visionaries that championed the city's dreams. As the author notes, rightly, "it was no sensible place to build a great city," offering "few of the inducements to settlement and growth found near major cities in other places." Darting between a macro and micro viewpoint, the author maintains his sharp focus on three primary subjects. The man with the plan was fabled engineer William Mulholland, whose infamous aqueduct and regional dams brought vital water to the city. The one with the dreams was D.W. Griffith, the frustrated actor who became a successful director and producer and transformed the movies from a novelty to a revolutionary medium. Finally, the true believer was Aimee Semple McPherson, a Pentecostal evangelist who used her celebrity to enrapture the troubled souls of LA. Through these three actors, Krist effectively demonstrates the massive opportunities the city represented in the early days of the 20th century as well as the personal tragedies that ultimately brought these dreamers low. Although the author unearths little that is historically groundbreaking, his dramatic portrayals of politics, scandals, sabotage, and bombings make for a rich, rewarding read. He also generates enormous sympathy for these flawed futurists, portraying not only the heights they reached in their respective careers, but also their radical falls from grace. Their fates ranged from an accidental demise to an unforgivable tragedy to that most acute of Hollywood endings: irrelevance.An entertaining, intertwined tale of triumph, hubris, and Manifest Destiny in the city of angels.
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April 15, 2018
Krist (Empire of Sin) tackles the development of Los Angeles in his latest nonfiction, focusing on three key figures in the city's history--William Mulholland (1855-1935), David Wark (D.W.) Griffith (1875-1948), and Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944). Self-trained engineer Mulholland was responsible for the massive public works project that allowed the drought-prone city access to water. Griffith helped transform the film industry into a profitable enterprise. McPherson used radio broadcasting to popularize her Christian religion, building the first megachurch and making L.A. a destination for spiritual exploration. Their phenomenal triumphs were followed by equally remarkable downfalls, and they each "self-destructed late in the 1920s in spectacular fashion, finally succumbing to the shifting tides of popular morality and technological change." VERDICT Krist's engaging prose and intriguing subjects, all of whom are clearly well researched, make this a definite page-turner for those with an interest in L.A. 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.--Crystal Goldman, Univ. of California, San Diego Lib.
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May 7, 2018
Krist (Empire of Sin) reveals how a rural backwater was transformed into a verdant multicultural metropolis through ingenuity, chicanery, and hyperbole in this engrossing history of Los Angeles. Focusing on the years 1900 through 1930, Krist draws from historic documents and firsthand accounts to show how the use of new technology in film production and mass media seduced hopeful dreamers westward with inspirational words and promises of unlimited opportunity. He credits three flawed and ambitious visionaries with the city’s meteoric rise: self-taught engineer William Mulholland, who designed the water system that made urbanization possible; film director D.W. Griffith, who overcame meddling film bosses to transform motion pictures into a lucrative industry; and charismatic evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, a pioneering faith healer and radio show host who “founded her own religion and cemented southern California’s reputation as a national hub for seekers of unorthodox spirituality and self-realization.” With a gift for evocative phrasing (“The images they conjured up... all had elements of the swindle about them, like mirages whose heady promises could evaporate on closer inspection”), Krist serves up intricate stories, rich period atmosphere, and colorful personalities to capture the zeitgeist of this eventful period. The result is a rollicking jaunt through L.A.’s early days.