Twilight Man: Love and Ruin in the Shadows of Hollywood and the Clark Empire

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars | 325 ratings

Price: 17.72

Last update: 08-26-2024


About this item

"Twilight Man is biography, romance, and nonfiction mystery, carrying with it the bite of fiction." (Los Angeles Review of Books)

"In Twilight Man, Liz Brown uncovers a noir fairytale, a new glimpse into the opulent Gilded Age empire of the Clark family." (Bill Dedman, co-author of The New York Times best seller Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune)

The unbelievable true story of Harrison Post - the enigmatic lover of one of the richest men in 1920s Hollywood - and the battle for a family fortune.

In the booming 1920s, William Andrews Clark Jr. was one of the richest, most respected men in Los Angeles. The son of the mining tycoon known as "The Copper King of Montana", Clark launched the Los Angeles Philharmonic and helped create the Hollywood Bowl. He was also a man with secrets, including a lover named Harrison Post. A former salesclerk, Post enjoyed a lavish existence among Hollywood elites, but the men's money - and their homosexuality - made them targets, for the district attorney, their employees and, in Post's case, his own family. When Clark died suddenly, Harrison Post inherited a substantial fortune - and a wealth of trouble. From Prohibition-era Hollywood to Nazi prison camps to Mexico City nightclubs, Twilight Man tells the story of an illicit love and the battle over a family estate that would destroy one man's life.

Harrison Post was forgotten for decades, but after a chance encounter with his portrait, Liz Brown, Clark's great-grandniece, set out to learn his story. Twilight Man is more than just a biography. It is an exploration of how families shape their own legacies, and the lengths they will go in order to do so.


Top reviews from the United States

John H Roberts
5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary achievement!
Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2022
Make no mistake, this is a fascinating book and an extraordinary piece of historical sleuthing! Especially for LGBTQ people or those interested in the history of Los Angeles, it is a must read. I enjoyed it so much that I ordered another copy from Amazon to give to a friend (the first copy was bought for me). In response, Amazon sent me a seriously damaged copy that I am in the process of returning. Fortunately I was able to find a copy in good condition at my nearest Barnes & Noble store, one of two they had in stock. Fair warning to anyone considering ordering paperback books from Amazon. Their screening process in obviously defective.
Thompsonsdad
5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating, Beautifully Written and intricately Researched Biography
Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2022
I was intrigued by the subject, but thought it might end up being a vapid portrait of a lost soul. The writer’s story telling skills, talent and diligence in researching the subject and anything connected to him made it a completely compelling and satisfying tale. She took a mysterious photo of a man and uncovered a trail that led from the copper mines of Montana to Nazi Germany and beyond. Well done!
PGMIowa
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2023
Interesting reading
DUNCAN L NANNEY
3.0 out of 5 stars Peculiar subject for a biography
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2021
As Liz Brown states late in her book: "Harrison (Post) was an ephemeral man, known for parties, shopping sprees, and espalier trees." That about sums it up as there is little else to distinguish himself from beginning to end aside from the fact that prominent figures in the Hollywood film world and high society seemed to adore him for reasons unknown. As Brown states: "He relied on others for power and protection." He did indeed. Everyone seemed to want to shower him with gifts, money, and outlandish hospitality, to stay indefinitely in their luxurious homes. All he could say to these very kind people as he spat in their faces in his diary near the end: "Not one good day in the States..." How about not one good day anywhere as he never seemed satisfied anywhere for long? Truly, If I had just one day as described here, I would be extremely grateful to be on the planet. The bottom line is Harrison Post was a terrible, self absorbed bore who never did anything notable for anyone. Gangsters at least offer us something interesting to read about. If there is something to recommend about this book, it s Liz Brown's engaging descriptions of events, places, and people particularly of the 20's and 30's in areas well familiar to me in Los Angeles and San Francisco. She has done her homework here. If this was all she wrote about, in other words, without Harrison Post, the book would have been more absorbing. The problem here too is that Brown makes a huge historical error in the third paragraph of page 38. The first problem here which is not exactly historical is she says: "In the early 1880's, such a trip would begin boarding a steam locomotive at New York's Grand Central Depot" Has Liz Brown ever ridden a train? If you are a passenger, you do not get to RIDE in the locomotive except by special arrangement. You ride in the coaches BEHIND the locomotive if it is steam, diesel, or electric. Los Angeles, where Brown lives, provides many options for experiencing this including at Disneyland where the train there is steam powered. However, this is minor in contrast to her next statement: "In Chicago, he would've switched to the Union Pacific Railroad line all of the way to Omaha, where he'd transfer and take the Central Pacific over the original transcontinental route to San Francisco." Considering Brown's obvious knowledge of history, how could she come to this conclusion? Has she never heard of the driving of the Golden Spike at Promontory, Utah in 1869? It was HERE the Union Pacific and Central Pacific met. Ultimately, this connection was altered by a few miles so that the Union Pacific's tracks stretched all of the way from Omaha, Nebraska to Ogden, Utah where the Central Pacific (later becoming Southern Pacific) completed the trip to Sacramento and onward to the Oakland Pier across the bay from San Francisco. Generally it is important at some point in a biography to either identify with the main subject, and if not that, find him interesting. I won't speak for everyone, but I would say it was neither of these for me.. I really didn't care what happened to this obviously snobbish terribly spoiled and boring man and just wished he would go away. ANY of the celebrities mentioned in here could have been described in greater detail as most of us never tire of the Hollywood crowd. Many of them were spoiled and self-absorbed like Mr. Post but at least they provided us with entertaining movies. What was entertaining about Harrison Post? It is not explained adequately. If someone asked me who Harrison Post was, I would not be sure what I would tell them!
Paul McCullough
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating history
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2023
Good story. Good writing.
michael mazalewski
5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting read
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2024
Enjoyed this read much more than expected - hard to fathom the highs and lows of a life lived and forgotten for decades. The LGBT content just supports the wild story.
Theresa A McManus
5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting novel into the Clark family and the people they loved.
Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2021
Absolutely loved this book. The author’s in-depth research made the era and people she was writing about come alive. It gave you a glimpse of what it was like to be wealthy in the 1920-30’s and how they spent their money even though there was much tragedy. A real page turner.
Mary Martine
4.0 out of 5 stars Amazing details about 1920s-30's Los Angeles
Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2021
I bought the book after reading a positive review in the NYTimes. Since I love learning about Los Angeles in the early 20th century I was intrigued. It IS good but like other reviewers have noted, the star of the book, Harrison Post, is incredibly passive (apart from spending his boyfriend's money) and doesnt really do much beyond being a kept man.

I kept waiting for the "big reveal" but it never came--lots of bad things happen to Mr. Post and he survives most of them, but he's kinda dull. What isn't dull is reading about the exhausting & fascinating life of gay people in Los Angeles at that time and how bribery of public officials was a necessary part of life.

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