Here, in a marvelously gripping and 　　rewarding novel, is the story of the 　　tycoons who created and built the 　　motion picture industry--not in Holly- 　　wood but in New York City at the turn of 　　the century. 　　 In particular, it is the story of Max 　　Britsky--born in the East Side ghetto of 　　New York, penniless and of his strug- 　　gle to survive and to conquer the world 　　he had entered. It is also the story of the 　　woman he married, of love and hate and 　　fraud and financial piracy and infighting, 　　of loyalty and betrayal. 　　 In other words, it is just the kind of tale 　　you would expect from one of the master 　　storytellers of our time. It is not a book to 　　be put down easily. Once you enter the 　　world of New York at the turn of the 　　century, the world of Rector s and 　　Delmonico s and Boss Murphy of Tam- 　　many Hall and Monk Eastman, that king 　　of hoodlums, you will partake of a won- 　　derfully rewarding feast. 　　 And you will welcome Max Britsky 　　into the world of literary immortals. 　　Like Dan Lavette of San Francisco, Max 　　Britsky is a man for all seasons, and you 　　will live with him, laugh with him, and 　　weep with him. 　　 The story told in this novel, the story 　　of the creation of the film industry, an 　　industry that changed the world, has 　　never been told in fiction. It is one of the 　　~reat stories of the twentieth century,