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The Inventor and the Tycoon: A Gilded Age Murder and the Birth of Moving Pictures (2013)

by Edward Ball

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3461274,038 (3.2)18
Biography & Autobiography. History. True Crime. Nonfiction. HTML:From the National Book Award-winning author of Slaves in the Family, a riveting true life/true crime narrative of the partnership between the murderer who invented the movies and the robber baron who built the railroads.
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One hundred and thirty years ago Eadweard Muybridge invented stop-motion photography, anticipating and making possible motion pictures. He was the first to capture time and play it back for an audience, giving birth to visual media and screen entertainments of all kinds. Yet the artist and inventor Muybridge was also a murderer who killed coolly and meticulously, and his trial is one of the early instances of a media sensation. His patron was railroad tycoon (and former California governor) Leland Stanford, whose particular obsession was whether four hooves of a running horse ever left the ground at once. Stanford hired Muybridge and his camera to answer that question. And between them, the murderer and the railroad mogul launched the...… (more)
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» See also 18 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
A really interesting and somewhat hard to classify book. The murder is really more of an appetizer than an entree. The more interesting story winds up being how a railroad tycoons love of horses led to my love of the summer blockbuster, jaws. I probably shouldn't have picked up a book entitled a history of the development of moving pictures , so I understand why the murder was included. It's a good read ( )
  cspiwak | Mar 6, 2024 |
More or less the story of the strange relationship between railroad magnate Leland Stanford and solitary photographer Eadweard Muybridge. I thought I'd like it - the time period and subject matter are right up my alley - but honestly, this book is kind of a mess. Not only is it not told in chronological order, it seems to be more or less on the author's whims, to the point where a lot of things need to be explained two or three times because they were last mentioned several chapters prior to the point at which they became relevant to the narrative. I started thinking maybe the book was written as the author was researching, with the facts presented in the order he found them. He also overuses the word "impresario". Not recommended. ( )
  melydia | Jul 19, 2019 |
The strange and innumerable circumstances that bring two disparate people into each others' lives at just the right time are miraculous; and yet we can find evidence of these types of meetings throughout history. This story brings together two such men during a time of technological explosion and great scientific discovery. Each man's story was interesting on its own and is worthy of being told to future generations. However, in the short time where they came together, magic happened. When novel ideas and ingenuity meet adequate funding... the world is changed. In the case of Stanford and Mybridge, it was changed irrevocably and set the human race on its path to the future we currently inhabit. ( )
  lissabeth21 | Oct 3, 2017 |
This book was interesting, but so disorganized. I learned a lot - about Leland Stanford, early photography, and the birth of motion pictures - but it was difficult to follow this disjointed story. I truly wish the author had simply told the tale chronologically, instead of jumping around with the murder trial as his focal point.
  wagner.sarah35 | Sep 12, 2016 |
An interesting look at the not so reputable man who invented moving pictures and Leland Stanford who encouraged him to do so. The back story was tedious, but the actual invention portion was good. ( )
  Jen.ODriscoll.Lemon | Jan 23, 2016 |
Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
Mr. Ball details the story of the two men's [celebrated photographer Eadweard Muybridge and businessman, politician and philanthropist Leland Stanford] long association with sympathy and flair, yet he can't quite make a wholly convincing case for the significance of Muybridge in the one arena in which some people claim he was central: the invention of moving pictures.
added by sgump | editWall Street Journal, Simon Winchester (Feb 7, 2012)
 
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Biography & Autobiography. History. True Crime. Nonfiction. HTML:From the National Book Award-winning author of Slaves in the Family, a riveting true life/true crime narrative of the partnership between the murderer who invented the movies and the robber baron who built the railroads.
 
One hundred and thirty years ago Eadweard Muybridge invented stop-motion photography, anticipating and making possible motion pictures. He was the first to capture time and play it back for an audience, giving birth to visual media and screen entertainments of all kinds. Yet the artist and inventor Muybridge was also a murderer who killed coolly and meticulously, and his trial is one of the early instances of a media sensation. His patron was railroad tycoon (and former California governor) Leland Stanford, whose particular obsession was whether four hooves of a running horse ever left the ground at once. Stanford hired Muybridge and his camera to answer that question. And between them, the murderer and the railroad mogul launched the...

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