Flickering Empire tells the fascinating yet little-known story of how
Chicago served as the unlikely capital of American film production in
the years before the rise of Hollywood (1907-1913). As entertaining as
it is informative, Flickering Empire straddles the worlds of academic
and popular nonfiction in its vivid illustration of the rise and fall of
the major Chicago movie studios in the mid-silent era (principally
Essanay and Selig Polyscope). Colorful, larger-than-life historical
figures, including Thomas Edison, Charlie Chaplin, Oscar Micheaux, and
Orson Welles, are major players in the narrative--in addition to
important though forgotten industry titans, such as "Colonel" William
Selig, George Spoor, and Gilbert "Broncho Billy" Anderson.