The Mirage Factory provides a wonderful look at the beginnings of one of America's great cities: Los Angeles. I moved to the area recently and was so thrilled to receive this book soon after unpacking my boxes. Local history is something I really enjoy reading about and this book not only fit the ticket but surprised me along the way as well. I expected a very timeline-heavy rundown of how Los Angeles came to be but instead Krist uses the lives and acts of three individuals to tell us the city's early story. These people (Mulholland, McPherson, and Griffith) were crucial in shaping LA into the city it became later and though I knew a little about Griffith I had never even heard of the others. I thought the tone of the book was great for nonfiction as well, much more personable and not at all dry but still covering a huge swath of historical facts. It really reads like a novel with multiple POVs without sacrificing depth of research or information.

The neatest thing to me about the book to me is seeing where the city is now from what it was when these three individuals lived: water continues to be a hot issue, spirituality continues to come in every shape and color, and the movie industry continues to impact a lot of the city's workings and society. That's what makes history to fascinating to me: seeing the threads between what happened then and what's happening now. Definitely recommend this one to history buffs and any local looking to learn about LA in a different way.

Note: I received a free Kindle edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher Crown Publishing, and the author Gary Krist for the opportunity to do so.

A wonderful book about the history of Los Angeles. With the advent of movies and bringing the film industries from the east coast to Los Angeles. How D.W. Griffith was one of the pioneers of the film industry in Hollywood was interesting, for I just knew the name from the park I used to go to when I was younger. He goes into the different ways of bringing water to this dry part of the land. How the people of Owens valley did not like the way the water was taken from them. How Mulholland who without an engineering degree built the aqueduct and was able to supply water to the ever-growing area. He was also responsible for the Saint Francis Dam collapse which 431 people died and are still the second greatest loss of life in California behind the 1906 earthquake. What was not in the book was that the collapse happened in 1928 and that in the 70’s 1992 and 1994 bodies were still discovered from this disaster. I also found the part about Aimee Semple to be very interesting. Not only her life and her preaching but who the different people were attacking her. Overall I found this to be a very good book with a lot of information, especially how there were oil wells in different parts of the city and how they were done away with as the city grew. Just one of many observations. Very much worth the read.

As a native born California resident of LA I loved this book. It was a fascinating look at the at the people that created what is now present day LA. I found it very well researched, enjoyable to read and a great addition to my California history shelf. What is definitive about this book is that you are learning and experiencing the growth of LA as you read through this book. I was in awe of the magnitude of the effort , money and ideas that shaped this area. Very well done to the author !
Thank you for the ARC . My opinion is my own. This book I highly recommend to all that enjoy California history and learning about the history behind LA.

A terrific way of packaging up history by telling three engaging stories about three fascinating individuals!

I enjyed this look at early los angeles. As a native southern californian I appreciate the history of the area I grew up in, warts and all.

I’ve read a good bit about the early days of Los Angeles, so there were parts of this book that had me wondering if I’d read this one before. Obviously, no. But there are just only so many ways of describing an event.

Krist tells LA’s story by focusing on three people who were important in shaping the development of old LA: William Mulholland, D.W. Griffith, and Aimee Semple McPherson. Mulholland was the engineer who found a (temporary) solution to Los Angeles’s lack of water: drain the Owens Valley of what they thought was ample water. It was him that allowed the green lawns and lush gardens that existed for decades, before water restrictions hit. D.W. Griffith was a director working during the birth of motion pictures, who made movies an art instead of hamminess - and also made one of the most racist movies ever, The Birth of a Nation. McPherson was an evangelist who moved from the mid-west to LA to found a church that is still going- and created a space for non-mainline religions in the city. All three shaped LA; all three ended up more or less in disgrace.

What makes this book different from the other “Old LA” books I’ve read is the amount of detail Krist has put into it. He’s dug a lot deeper than most others. Even though I knew the stories of Mulholland and Griffith, their stories held my attention- especially the part about the St. Francis dam failure that killed 400 people- I had never heard of that event! The chapters alternate between the three main characters; they never weave together even though they all were working during the same era. Enjoyable to read and full of facts. Four stars.

Gary Krist tells the story of the ascension of Los Angeles as a major city through the stories of three people who were essential to its development: engineer William Mulholland, director DW Griffith, and evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. Krist is a. meticulous researcher and the conceit works well as a way to compartmentalize the history of Los Angeles and show the forces at work that led to the city's growth. The book is an overview of some of the more interesting pieces of L.A. history told with great detail but little sympathy for either these historical figures or the city itself.

I received a free Kindle copy of  The Mirage Factory by Gary Krist courtesy of Net Galley  and Crown Publishing, the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and my fiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus pages.

I requested this book as I am interested in american history and the description made this book sound interesting. I also have read one of Gary Krist's earlier books (The White Cascade) and enjoyed it.

This book covers the story of the development of Los Angeles from 1900 - 1930 through the lives of three individuals who played key roles in different ways. The three are William Mulholland, D.W. Griffith and Aimee Semple McPherson. Mulholland developed the water system for the city, Griffith was instrumental in the growth of the motion picture business and McPherson was one of the first to development a broad based religious following (Four Square) that grew out of the Los Angeles area.

The book is well researched and written. The author uses the rotating chapter style going from one individual to the next while making it easy to follow. I am sure that others also played key roles in the development of Los Angeles during this time, but the author chose these three and did a very good job of explaining their importance. The final chapter briefly deals with what happens to the three after the time period covered by the book.

I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the era that moved Los Angeles from a small player in the scheme of things to a major player in the development of Califronia, the motion picture business and new religious beliefs.

The Mirage Factory is an extraordinary work tracing the early history of Los Angeles. Krist explores the path that the city took from a small backwater at the edge of the continent with no natural harbor to become one of the largest cities on earth (when counting the entire metropolitan area). Three stories are told here.

First, there's the story of the city's great engineer, William Mulholland, After whom the great mountain road traversing the Santa Monica's was named. Mulholland was a great visionary who foresaw that the city's growth was tied to the scarce resource of water and designed a monumental aqueduct to bring water from the Owens Valley, where the eastern Sierras drained, all the way across the high desert and over the mountains to feed the thirsty city. To him it is credited the development of LA's far flung suburbs. The taking of that water was not without controversy and it was seen as theft by the locals up in Lone Pine.

The second story is that of DW Griffith, for whom the great park of Los Angeles was named. Griffith was one of the giants of the early Hollywood film industry, particularly in the silent film era. This story traces the development of the film industry from a novelty at arcades to the glittering success it became.

The third story is perhaps the most fascinating, that Of Aimee Semple McPherson, an evangelist with a tremendous following, who made her center in a church in Echo Park, a church which still stands although it looks quite a bit worse for wear. McPherson was a colorful figure, whites story traces the journey that churchgoing midwesterners took to the coast, which was nicknamed at one time Iowa By the Sea.

This book is so chock full of details that at times it can be a slow read, but what a fascinating and well-researched history. It is especially fascinating to those of us familiar with all the geographical locations.

Los Angeles is an unusual city in that it was not a natural place for a settlement -- the area had been passed over in favor of Monterey, San Francisco, even San Diego, until the second half of the 19th century. It wasn't until about 1920 that the population of Los Angeles reached that of San Francisco. Gary Krist looks at three people who were part of the rise of Los Angeles in The Mirage Factory. His choice of hydraulic engineer William Mulholland seems obvious, since without some serious rerouting of water to the normally parched region, it never could have grown as it did. The other headliners, movie producer and director D. W. Griffith, and super evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, are less obvious, but warranted. On the other hand, you could also see an an aviation pioneer such as Donald Douglas or Glenn Martin or an architect like Julia Morgan filling in one of the spots.

This was a very lively geographical history -- although Mulholland was a straight arrow, the story of the engineering and political fight to move water was fascinating, and the story of the dam breaking was heartbreaking. Griffith and McPherson were more interesting characters, and the stories of their rise and fall was really quite cinematic.

(Thanks to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for a digital review copy.)

Highly recommended for insights into how Los Angeles got started. The author does a masterful job of weaving together the three different influences.

Really enjoyed this one. Have already recommended this to two friends. The author writes like a dream. This topic is so interesting and important. Must read for anyone interested in history of the important US cities.