River of Shadows : Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West

by Solnit, Rebecca

• ISBN13: 9780142004104
• ISBN10: 0142004103
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-03-02
• Publisher: Penguin Books

Summary

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.

Author Biography

Rebecca Solnit is a writer whose work focuses on issues of environment, landscape, and place. She is the author of numerous books, including the critically acclaimed Wanderlust: A History of Walking and As Eve Said to the Serpent: On Landscape, Gender, and Art, which was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism.

Table of Contents

The Annihilation of Time and Space	p. 1
The Man with the Cloudy Skies	p. 25
Lessons of the Golden Spike	p. 55
Standing on the Brink	p. 75
Lost River	p. 101
A Day in the Life, Two Deaths, More Photographs	p. 125
Skinning the City	p. 153
Stopping Time	p. 177
The Artist in Motion and at Rest	p. 207
From the Center of the World to the Final Frontier	p. 239
Chronology	p. 261
Notes	p. 271
Acknowledgments	p. 295
Photograph Credits	p. 297
Index	p. 299
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