The illustrated history of the sex, excess, murder, suicide, ambition,
betrayal, and compromise behind the silver screen.
It is now over 100 years since Hollywood became the center of American
cinema and, while it has always presented itself as a place of glamour
and home to the beautiful and talented, from its very creation there was
a darker side to Tinseltown. Filmmakers didn't just move to southern
California for its sunny weather, they went west to evade the patent
laws restricting the use of movie cameras. From its earliest days,
Hollywood, the home of fantasy, created a hothouse of excess--too much
money, too much adulation, too much expectation, and too much ego. But
while stars have always been indulged, once their moment in the
limelight has passed, their fall can be cruel. The History of
Hollywood covers it all, from the setting up of the studios by the
movie moguls to the corporations that run them today, from drug
addictions to McCarthy-era witch-hunts to #metoo. Intensively
researched and superbly entertaining, the book reveals that the stories
behind the silver screen are at least as gripping as many of those on
it.