henry gaylord wilshire: the millionaire socialist

Synopsis

Henry Gaylord Wilshire was a fascinating man who was either a prophet, a con man or someone with an enduring social conscience. He was the man who turned an abandoned barley field in 1895 into one of the most famous streets in the world. He ran for Congress three times and was the first socialist to run for elected office. He published a magazine that had the largest circulation of any socialist journal in American history. Jack London, George Bernard Shaw and Upton Sinclair were his friends. He sold millions of dollars worth of stock in a gold mine in Bishop, California and millions more in a magnetic belt that he claimed cured cancer, diabetes, baldness and constipation. Was he a man before his time or just a self promoter and an unethical charlatan. Only you the reader can decide.