An epic, mesmerizing oral history of Hollywood and Los Angeles by the author of the contemporary classic Edie

Jean Stein influenced the art of oral history in her groundbreaking book Edie: American Girl, an indelible portrait of Andy Warhol "superstar" Edie Sedgwick that was edited with George Plimpton. Now, in West of Eden, Stein turns her lens toward the city Sedgwick came from--Los Angeles--and a mythic cast of fortune hunters and aspiring moguls whose quests for fame and power destroy many along the way.

West of Eden, a work of history both grand in scale and intimate in detail, tells the stories of five larger-than-life individuals and their families, each one representing different aspects of Los Angeles and the American dream. There is Edward Doheny, the Wisconsin-born oil tycoon whose corruption ruins the reputation of a United States president and leads to his own son's violent death. Jack Warner, the son of Jewish...