{"product_id":"2940169268379","title":"The Mirage Factory: Illusion, Imagination, and the Invention of Los Angeles","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom bestselling author Gary Krist, the story of the metropolis that never should have been and the visionaries who dreamed it into reality\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLittle more than a century ago, the southern coast of Californiaamp;mdash;bone-dry, harbor-less, isolated by deserts and mountain rangesamp;mdash;seemed destined to remain scrappy farmland. Then, as if overnight, one of the world's iconic cities emerged. At the heart of Los Angeles' meteoric rise were three flawed visionaries: William Mulholland, an immigrant ditch-digger turned self-taught engineer, designed the massive aqueduct that would make urban life here possible. D.W. Griffith, who transformed the motion picture from a vaudeville-house novelty into a cornerstone of American culture, gave L.A. its signature industry. And Aimee Semple McPherson, a charismatic evangelist who founded a religion, cemented the city's identity as a center for spiritual exploration.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAll were masters of their craft, but also illusionists, of a kind. The images they conjured upamp;mdash;of a blossoming city in the desert, of a factory of celluloid dreamworks, of a community of seekers finding personal salvation under the California sunamp;mdash;were like mirages liable to evaporate on closer inspection. All three would pay a steep price to realize these dreams, in a crescendo of hubris, scandal, and catastrophic failure of design that threatened to topple each of their personal empires. Yet when the dust settled, the mirage that was LA remained.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSpanning the years from 1900 to 1930, \u003ci\u003eThe Mirage Factory\u003c\/i\u003e is the enthralling tale of an improbable city and the people who willed it into existence by pushing the limits of human engineering and imagination.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47101913891056,"sku":"2940169268379","price":22.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940169268379_p0.jpg?v=1763772169","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940169268379","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}