A revelatory, perceptive, and highly readable look at the greatest silent film stars -- not those few who are fully appreciated and understood, like Chaplin, Keaton and Gish, but those who have been misperceived, unfairly dismissed, or forgotten, such as Valentino, Mary Pickford, Marion Davies, Lon Chaney, Norma and Constance Talmadge, Pola Negri, Gloria Swanson, Colleen Moore, Clara Bow, William S. Hart, Tom Mix, John Gilbert, Mabel Normand, Douglas Fairbanks, and the quintessential all-American dog, Rin-Tin-Tin. This is the first book to anatomize the major silent players, reconstruct their careers, and give us a sense of what those films, those stars, and that Hollywood were all about. More than 300 photos.