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 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 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 her, 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”)