num_pages: 320
description: The world as we know it today began in California in the late 1800s, and Eadweard Muybridge had a lot to do with it. This striking assertion is at the heart of Rebecca Solnit’s new book, which weaves together biography, history, and fascinating insights into art and technology to create a boldly original portrait of America on the threshold of modernity. The story of Muybridge—who in 1872 succeeded in capturing high-speed motion photographically—becomes a lens for a larger story about the acceleration and industrialization of everyday life. Solnit shows how the peculiar freedoms and opportunities of post–Civil War California led directly to the two industries—Hollywood and Silicon Valley—that have most powerfully defined contemporary society.
language: English
title: River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West
titlecomplete: River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West
genres: Art, Technology, Biography, Cultural, Film, Science, Photography, Nonfiction, Westerns, History
ratings_count: 1485
awards: awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Mark Lynton History Prize, awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: California Book Award
category: Nonfiction (Gold), awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: National Book Critics Circle Award
category: Criticism, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Spur Award
category: Best Nonfiction Contemporary
publisher: Penguin Books