Description
Book SynopsisA premier historian penetrates the fog of corruption and cover-up still surrounding the murder of a Stanford University founder to establish who did it, how and why
Trade Review"Irresistibly fascinating... Richard White has brought Jane Stanford and her peculiar entourage vividly to life—and also has persuasively figured out who killed her." -- Nicholas Lemann, author of Transaction Man
"Offering a detective story with more twists and turns than a Dashiell Hammett novel, Mr. White leads us through his research into the labyrinth. Along the way, [he] uncovers a century-long campaign kicked off by the university’s first president to cloud the circumstances of Jane Stanford’s death.…[A] brilliant, acerbic guide into a world that resonates with the present,…Mr. White has done an astonishing job of sifting through the available clues—and turning up an impressive array of new details. In this fascinating 'whydunit,' he makes a convincing case for why Jane Stanford’s murder was covered up for so long." -- Julia Flynn Siler - Wall Street Journal
"[A] rollicking account of Jane Stanford’s final years and violent death, all set against the seamy San Francisco carnival culture of the era." -- Meryl Gordon - New York Times
"Scrupulously researched… [a] lively account of the institution’s origins" -- James Lasdun - London Review of Books
