The History of Hollywood

For a century Hollywood has presented itself as the glamorous home to the beautiful and talented. But, since its creation, there has been a darker side to Tinseltown. Right from the beginning the Dream Factory created a hothouse of excess. Too much money, too much adulation and too much ego quickly led to indulgence. But once their moment in the limelight passed, the fall of screen idols could be cruel. Meanwhile as mobsters saw opportunities to extort the studios, Hollywood s founders kept suspiciously close ties to the police and the press. From the despotic moguls who first established the studios to today's accountants who hide the profits of movies that take billions of dollars at the box office, from the Blacklist to the Mob, and from love affairs to suicides and even murder, the history of Hollywood is one of ambition and betrayal. And of how money can make almost anyone compromise. Intensively researched and superbly entertaining, Dark History of Hollywood reveals that the stories behind the silver screen are at least as gripping as many of those on it.