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Feb 28, 2009

Shelly rated it:

I was looking for a light, quick, entertaining read that I didn't have to think too much about so I picked up this book b/c I thought how can I lose with a true-crime novel about unionist leaders accused of blowing up the L.A. Times building b/c they didn't like the press they were getting, a detective known as the "American Sherlock Holmes", D.W. Griffith, and a very young city of Los Angeles? I like History, I like crime stories, it's a win-win. Wong-Wong.

Although the st More...

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Sep 29, 2008

Robert rated it:

Generally a very good read, but I have a couple of quibbles--No index ( a horrible choice for a book of history), a couple of factual boners--the population of Los Angeles was closer to 350,000 in 1910 than to the 900,000 cited in the book, and "A Corner in Wheat" was NOT 32 frames long--that would have made it approximetely 2 seconds in length--the author may have meant 32 scenes.
The idea of the book--that Wiliam J. Burns, Clarence Darrow and filmmaker D.W. Griffith, acting More...

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Nov 09, 2008

Rose rated it:

The nucleus of Pulitzer Prize finalist Howard Blum's 'American Lightning' is the October 1910 bombing of the Los Angeles 'Times' building. From that one act of terrorism a story is spawned that includes legendary detective William J. Burns, defense attorney extraordinaire Clarence Darrow, and the early twentieth century's greatest motion picture director, D.W. Griffith. Mary Pickford even puts in an appearance. Burns works to bring the 'Times' bombers to justice, Darrow eventually steps in to sa More...

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Mar 07, 2009

Dkeslin rated it:

Starting with a bomb that was set in the Los Angeles Times building, this nonfiction thriller leads to a veiled plot across the whole united states involving labor unions and leads to a trial involving Clarence Darrow and weaving the web to include D. W. Griffith and the birth of Hollywood moviemaking. A rapid page turner that reads like a great fiction detective novel.

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Dec 12, 2008

Fred rated it:

I have finished "American Lightning". It is an interesting book, but not a great read. The history, more than the mystery, is what kept me reading. It is a fascinating tale that had an impact on film and the lives of those involved. I am always amazed at how a person's life is impacted and directed by the events, and if one little thing had gone differently, how that person's life may have twisted and turned in a different direction. This book makes one wonder about how history may hav More...

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Dec 08, 2008

Paula rated it:

A couple of years ago, "The Devil in the White City" kicked off a trend of writing history books with a narrative, almost fictional style, and "American Lightning" is clearly indebted to it. They even designed the cover with a similar aesthetic. I thought it was the same author until I checked the "Other Works" page. Devious, yes. And in this case, acceptable, because it was nearly as good.

"Lightning" follows the 'American Sherlock Homes' as h More...

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Dec 23, 2011

Barney rated it:

Ohhhhhhhh man! If the current folks complaining about President Obama being a Socialist could read this book! Not only does Eugene Debs make an appearance...but so does Big Bill Haywood! Awesome! The text focuses on the Oct 1, 1910 destruction of the LA Times building. It seems that the building was blown up using dynamite, killing 21 people. This is one of those events that I had no idea about.

The text is a story of three people: William Burns, Clarance Darrow and D.W. Griffit More...

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Nov 18, 2011

Thomas rated it:

In 1910 there were a series of explosions across the country. Some believed the bombings were the work of anarchists while others thought they were more likely caused by workers in the fight between the working class and capitalists. The bombings were destructive but bloodless until October 1, 1910 when 21 employees of the Los Angeles Times were killed when an explosion ripped through their building. But was it the work of angry workers or company owners hoping to blame the unions? Enter Billy B More...

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Oct 21, 2011

Derek rated it:

(Excerpted from my review of the same author's The Floor of Heaven)

American Lightning centers around the 1920 bombing of the Los Angeles Times building by anarchists - or rather, 2/3 of it does. The other third proves to have no connection to the Times bombing at all. Unless you consider contemporaneousness to be enough, and I don't.

Blum employs a kind of "three-headed protagonist" conceit to describe a historical event. (Since this is non-fiction "protagonist" More...

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Oct 01, 2011

Jan rated it:

I honestly cannot believe that this book doesn't have a higher rating on here. This is one of the best non-fiction books that I have read in a very long time.

Ostensibly about the 1910 bombing of the LA Times building (which killed 21 people), it plays out more like a "whodunit." Blum interweaves the story of three famous men - William J. Burns, "America's Sherlock Holmes," the private detective hired to catch the bomber; Clarence Darrow, the "peoples' lawyer" More...

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Jan 02, 2011

Cheri rated it:

There is an awful lot of padding in this book and, strangely, an awful lot that's missing from the narrative.
Several story lines have little to do with the actual bombing and for the life of me I cannot understand why Blum would choose to focus on DW Griffith, a man who's involvement in the case could have been summed up in a paragraph, rather than Otis, who is largely ignored despite being a major player in the story. In the end, we lose a complete understanding of what happened and we More...

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Nov 04, 2010

Sarah rated it:

I thought this book represented a slice of American history that has since been long forgotten. The book claims to cover what was once thought of as the "Crime of the Century." Easy to pronounce when its not even 10 years into it. The critics make a valid point on this one. The crime itself was the bombing of the L.A. Times office building and was perpetrated by union officials. There have been many crimes since then that have been way more salacious and heinous.

The More...

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Jun 23, 2010

Judy rated it:

In October 1910, the Los Angeles Times office building was bombed killing 21 people and injuring over 100. This bombing was part of the struggle between labor and industry that had been on-going since the late 19th century and was now threatening to spill over into a wider, more violent, national conflict. Howard Blum weaves together the story of three prominent Americans who were affected by this bombing--Billy Burns, Clarence Darrow, and D.W. Griffith. William "Billy" Burns was a More...

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Jul 13, 2009

Sjo rated it:

Written in quasi novel style, this is about one of the original acts of domestic terrorism in the US when the LA Times building was blown to bits in 1910 killing 21 people and injuring many more. In covering this event, Howard Blum weaves a great detective story featuring the "American Sherlock Holmes" William J Burns around the twin pillars of the rise of Hollywood and the escalation of the violence between capital and labor that gripped the early 20th century (The Soviet Union revol More...

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Jun 02, 2009

Patty rated it:

I love history written as narrative (ala In Cold Blood by Truman Capote) and this book is written exactly that way. The last book I read (The Old Buzzard Had It Coming) was set in rural Oklahoma about 1910. This book is set in Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Chicago and all points in between in 1910. But, the contrast couldn't be more stark, American Lightening focuses on the ways that the world is changing - big business is rising to the top in money on the backs of workers, unions are fighting More...

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Jan 03, 2009

Stephanie rated it:

OK not exactly the type of "true crime" I usually read, but...interesting. I got it because I am interested in the history of labor in general and the sleaze factor in California's political and labor history in particular.

Clarence Darrow, "Billy" Burns, and D.W. Griffith - who knew there was the connection laid out in this book? My family's history in the movie business in the last century makes me curious about Griffith, and it was kind of fun to read about the More...

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Jan 08, 2009

Kenny rated it:

American Lightning revolves around what was then known as the "crime of the century", the bombing of the L.A.Times building in 1910. Blum focuses on three figures of that period: Detective Bobby Burns, attorney Clarence Darrow, and filmmaker D.W. Griffith. The first two are directly involved in the events, while Griffith was merely an emerging cultural figure of the time. The structure of the narrative and the way Blum treats these "characters" makes for a very entertaining r More...

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May 07, 2010

Stven rated it:

A pretty good job of following the threads in some early 20th century American political violence headlines. Fortunately the story runs through D.W. Griffith's early days in the movie industry, because it was really interesting to read about the various innovations Griffith brought to moviemaking. It was news to me how much of what we take for granted about movies and movie stars came about because of Griffith's imagination and knowhow.

The political stuff is a good reminder of the More...

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Aug 24, 2011

Lisa rated it:

This was an interesting book. How many times in our lives do we hear the phrase "crime of the century" bandied about? Well, the 20th century got a head start on it when a series of bombs was set off, signalling a new level of violence in the war between labor and capital. One bomb killed 21 people when it destroyed the Times building in Los Angeles.

The two men charged with the crime were known union men, and were defended by the legendary Clarence Darrow. They'd been hu More...

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Jan 26, 2010

Joemmama rated it:

A while ago I read a small part of this in some magazine, I can't remember which one, and thought it sounded really good. I was right! This was a terrific book. Howard Blum has written a narrative nonfiction book that is one of the best I have read. An amazing story, real people, and the fact that it is all true, made it even better. October 1, 1910 the LA Times building was blown up, killing 21 and injuring many others. Billy Burns, called the American Sherlock Holmes, is called into service, t More...

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Jan 25, 2010

Michael rated it:

Another addition to the relatively recent explosion of popular non-fiction, i.e. books that reference some form of tumultuous weather conditions in the title. If what you need is a quick history fix you can feel bad about purchasing, then this genre is it.

The first section of the book is actually quite exciting and introduced me to William J. Burns- the country's most famous private dick and later head of Harding's prototype for the FBI- and his search for the bombers of the LA Times More...

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Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it

Most critics were eager to learn more about this neglected event in American history and were glad to have Blum as their teacher. They were most impressed by the first half of the book, which covers the attacks and investigation and which was several times compared to a Hollywood thriller or an episode of the television show 24. Reviewers were less thrilled by the second part of the book, where Blum introduces Darrow and Griffith into the story. Several felt that these great American personaliti

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Feb 09, 2012

Mama Kaye rated it:

I loved American Lightning. I loved learning about this slice of history, which was totally new to me. I had never heard about the bombing of the L.A. Times building in 1910 and the resulting deaths of 22 people. Blum did a fabulous job of crafting together a complicated but fascinating tale that touches on politics, social and economic change, labor unrest, terrorism, the judicial system, and much more, while at the same time focusing on a riveting murder mystery and the dedicated detective who More...

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Jul 25, 2011

Margaret added it

In the same vein as the Devil in the White City, this reconstruction focuses on the dynamite-and-gas-main explosion that obliterated the Los Angeles Times building in 1910. Who did it: Anarchists? Big employers hoping to discredit a socialist mayoral candidate? Union bosses? Lone nut? In short order, a private detective starts kidnapping suspects, big capital scrambles to hide the crookedness of the Mulholland water and development scheme, labor and capital realize the value of movies as p More...

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Dec 16, 2009

Laurie rated it:

Subtitle:
Terror, mystery, the birth of Hollywood and the crime of the century.

Reads well, but I did not finish it.

from Publishers Weekly:
In 1911, Iron Workers Union leaders James and Joseph McNamara plea-bargained in exchange for prison sentences instead of death after bombing the offices of the Los Angeles Times—killing 21 people and wounding many more. The bombing had been part of a bungled assault on some 100 American cities. After the McNamaras went to jai More...

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May 19, 2011

Sarah rated it:

Thoroughly enjoyable, with the feel of a meandering stroll with a chatty friend, rather than a point-to-point guide with a no-nonsense professional. An apt read, given the current climate, about how political and economic warfare can have far-reaching and devastating results. While none of the characters are sympathetic (more often than not, they are old-school villains of the black cape and handlebar mustache variety), all of them are identifiable by even today’s standards and tropes, from th More...

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Feb 04, 2009

Anna rated it:

I agree with the reviews on this book that likened it to The Devil in the White City Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America ; this book had the same two plot lines converging, famous characters, and a sensational murder mystery behind it, but Larson's book was more deftly written.

It was a strain trying to weave D.W. Griffith and the evolution of Hollywood in to the L.A. Times bombing for the length of the entire book; I could buy into it for the first hundred pa More...

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Nov 24, 2008

Nathan rated it:

Brisk, gripping, but ultimately not too deep, Howard Blum's story of a horrific true-life bombing in the early days of Los Angeles entertains more than it enlightens. Blum's focus seems a bit scattered -- the wild antics of filmmaker D.W. Griffith wander in and out of the more significant story of detective Billy Burns and aging, morally compromised attorney Clarence Darrow, and never quite gel. But Blum's vivid account of the case itself, and his background explorations into the simmering war b More...

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Mar 27, 2009

Evelyn rated it:

A wonderfully engaging telling of an (unknown to me, previously) critical point for a young America - when movies and Hollywood were not yet a fact of life, when DW Griffithe was just starting out, and before Clarence Darrows' big Scopes trial, and before William Burns founded the Bureau of Investigation - all about unions and capitalism, greed and the 'crime of the century'(well that was in 1910, in the century's infancy, without foresight of what was yet to come). All the elements of conspirac More...

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Feb 24, 2011

Mike rated it:

Much of this book is very good. The mystery, a bombing at the LA Times building, is interesting, and the subsequent investigation to find out who did it is exciting. That by itself would make a very good book. The problem is that the author tried to tack on a story about DW Griffith that had nothing to do with the bombing, nor was it particularly interesting. The end result is a muddled book with no clear direction. It reads as if two books, one a true crime mystery and the other a very poor psy More...

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