New York: Random House, (1990) dj. Hardcover first edition - A novel set during a period of American political and social change. "The time is 1917. In Washington, President Wilson is about to lead the United States into the Great War. In California, a new industry is born that will transform America: moving pictures." Among those who people this novel are Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the author's own grandfather, the blind Senator Gore. 437 pp. ISBN: 0-394576594.