This book chronicles the lives of Leland Stanford, the founder of Stanford University, and Eadweard Muybridge, the inventor of still-motion photography. Along the way, much of the history of the founding of the motion picture industry is covered by the paths Muybridge crosses. While Stanford's path covers the building of his fortune through the transcontinental railroad and other financial pursuits. The private lives of each of the men take many odd twists and turns including a murder by Muybridge and Stanford's involvement with spiritualists.
