New Releases by Jean Stein

El esplendor y las miserias de Los Ángeles y Hollywood. Una magnífica indagación en los secretos más inconfesables de una ciudad mítica. En la ciudad de Los Ángeles el sol brilla prácticamente los trescientos sesenta y cinco días del año; en una de sus colinas el legendario cartel de Hollywood anuncia la fábrica de sueños más potente del mundo y en otras se suceden las mansiones. Varias de estas fastuosas residencias forman parte de este libro, que reconstruye la desmesurada historia de la ciudad a través de cinco familias emblemáticas, con su glamour, sus excesos, sus secretos de alcoba, sus extravagancias, su acumulación de riqueza y poder y sus destructivas tensiones. La autora nos presenta a los Doheny, cuyo patriarca inspiró ¡Petróleo!, de Upton Sinclair, y Pozos de ambición, de Paul Thomas Anderson; a Jack Warner y sus hermanos, que levantaron uno de los grandes estudios de Hollywood; a Jane Garland, una joven aspirante a actriz psíquicamente desequilibrada; a la estrella Jennifer Jones, su marido, el megalómano productor Selznick, y sus vástagos, de trágico destino, y, por último, a su propia familia y la figura de su padre, fundador de la Music Corporation of America, pieza clave de la poderosa industria musical. Al oeste del Edén explora un siglo de historia de Estados Unidos, con sus luces y sus sombras, e indaga en el mito del sueño americano y en su tenebroso reverso, con la Gran Depresión, el Comité de Actividades Antiamericanas, la Mafia, los tabloides... El libro, fruto de dos décadas de trabajo, está escrito con el método de la «historia oral» a partir de entrevistas con figuras como Joan Didion, Gore Vidal, Arthur Miller, Lauren Bacall, Warren Beatty, Jane Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Frank Gehry, Naomi Klein, Stephen Sondheim, miembros de las familias Warner, Jones, Selznick y Stein, terapeutas, chóferes, criadas... El intenso resultado es un imponente fresco de Los Ángeles.

Uma saborosa história oral de Los Angeles narrada por alguém que cresceu nos estúdios de Hollywood. Jean Stein passou a infância rodeada de atrizes, diretores, produtores e personalidades de Hollywood. Filha de Jules Stein, fundador do gigantesco estúdio de música, cinema e televisão MCA, Jean pertence a um dos cinco clãs de Los Angeles que fizeram fortuna em seu tempo. Em A oeste do Éden, Stein sobrevoa a cidade de sua infância por meio da história oral de suas cinco famílias mais poderosas. Pelos saborosos relatos que a autora compila e mescla com outras fontes históricas, o leitor descobrirá as engrenagens de uma máquina movida pela fama, ambição, poder e fantasia. Após a leitura deste livro, a mítica cidade de Los Angeles, que sozinha protagoniza um dos principais capítulos da história cultural norte-americana, nunca mais será a mesma.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An epic, mesmerizing oral history of Hollywood and Los Angeles from the author of the contemporary classic Edie Jean Stein transformed the art of oral history in her groundbreaking book Edie: American Girl, an indelible portrait of Andy Warhol “superstar” Edie Sedgwick, which was edited with George Plimpton. Now, in West of Eden, she turns to Los Angeles, the city of her childhood. Stein vividly captures a mythic cast of characters: their ambitions and triumphs as well as their desolation and grief. These stories illuminate the bold aspirations of five larger-than-life individuals and their families. West of Eden is a work of history both grand in scale and intimate in detail. At the center of each family is a dreamer who finds fortune and strife in Southern California: Edward Doheny, the Wisconsin-born oil tycoon whose corruption destroyed the reputation of a U.S. president and led to his own son’s violent death; Jack Warner, the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants, who together with his brothers founded one of the world’s most iconic film studios; Jane Garland, the troubled daughter of an aspiring actress who could never escape her mother’s schemes; Jennifer Jones, an actress from Oklahoma who won the Academy Award at twenty-five but struggled with despair amid her fame and glamour. Finally, Stein chronicles the ascent of her own father, Jules Stein, an eye doctor born in Indiana who transformed Hollywood with the creation of an unrivaled agency and studio. In each chapter, Stein paints a portrait of an outsider who pins his or her hopes on the nascent power and promise of Los Angeles. Each individual’s unyielding intensity pushes loved ones, especially children, toward a perilous threshold. West of Eden depicts the city that has projected its own image of America onto the world, in all its idealism and paradox. As she did in Edie, Jean Stein weaves together the personal recollections of an array of individuals to create an astonishing tapestry of a place like no other. Praise for West of Eden “Compulsively readable, capturing not just a vibrant part of the history of Los Angeles—that uniquely ‘American Place’ Stein refers to in her subtitle—but also the real drama of this town . . . It’s like being at an insider’s cocktail party where the most delicious gossip about the rich and powerful is being dished by smart people, such as Gore Vidal, Joan Didion, Arthur Miller and Dennis Hopper. . . . Mesmerizing.”—Los Angeles Times “Perhaps the most surprising thing that emerges from this riveting book is a glimpse of what seems like deep truth. It’s possible that oral history as Stein practices it . . . is as close as we’re going to come to the real story of anything.”—The New York Times Book Review “Enthralling . . . brings some of [L.A.’s] biggest personalities to life . . . As she did for Edie Sedgwick in Edie: American Girl, [Stein] harnesses a gossipy chorus of voices.”—Vogue “Even if you’re a connoisseur of Hollywood tales, you’ve probably never heard these. . . . As ever, gaudy, debauched, merciless Hollywood has the power to enthrall its audience.”—The Wall Street Journal “The tales of jaw-dropping excess, cruelty, and betrayal are the stuff of movies, and the pleasures are immense.”—Vanity Fair “This riveting oral history chronicles the development of Los Angeles, from oil boomtown to Tinseltown.”—Entertainment Weekly (“Must List”)

The “exceptionally seductive biography” of the 1960s icon as told by those who knew her (Los Angeles Times Book Review). In the 1960s, actress and model Edie Sedgwick exploded into the public eye like a comet. She seemed to have it all: she was aristocratic and glamorous, vivacious and young, Andy Warhol’s superstar. But within a few years she flared out as quickly as she had appeared, and before she turned twenty-nine she was dead from a drug overdose. In a dazzling tapestry of voices—family, friends, lovers, rivals—the entire meteoric trajectory of Edie Sedgwick’s life is brilliantly captured. And so is the Pop Art world of the ‘60s: the sex, drugs, fashion, music—the mad rush for pleasure and fame. All glitter and flash on the outside, it was hollow and desperate within—like Edie herself, and like her mentor, Andy Warhol. Alternately mesmerizing, tragic, and horrifying, this book shatters many myths about the ‘60s experience in America. “This is the book of the Sixties that we have been waiting for.” —Norman Mailer

This study was undertaken within the Long-Range Transport of Airborne Pollutants (LRTAP) program of the Canadian government. The objective of the study is twofold: 1) model changes in the water''s chemistry changes and its movement in the soil using mathematical expressions based on physical and thermodynamic relationships rather than on empiricism; 2) make this model portable in that it is easy to tranfer and predict water chemistry in other watersheds. The proposed modelling approach (called VSASQ1) includes four modules: a) a snow meltwater module (SNOQUAL) that provides the input; b) the soil (VSAS2) module which determines the routing of water; c) the soil chemistry (SOILEQ) module which calculates the soil chemistry changes and provides the output; and d) (SHORMIX), the module which determines the surface water quality changes in streams and lakes. Suggestions for enhancement of the model are discussed.