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American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood & the Crime of the Century

Howard Blum

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Feb 11, 2022 Linda Martin rated it really liked it

Shelves: geo-california, nonfiction, history, 2022, audiobook, crime, disaster

It was a dreadfully dark morning in Los Angeles when dynamite was used to respond to the perceived capitalist assault on the well-being of common lowly workers. Every newspaper in the area had agreed to use union workers, except one holdout: the Los Angeles Times.

Unbeknownst to most Americans, there was an all-out war going on between corporations and labor unions. Nobody seemed to notice until the Los Angeles Times building was blown up with 21 workers there being killed. It was October 1, 1910 It was a dreadfully dark morning in Los Angeles when dynamite was used to respond to the perceived capitalist assault on the well-being of common lowly workers. Every newspaper in the area had agreed to use union workers, except one holdout: the Los Angeles Times.

Unbeknownst to most Americans, there was an all-out war going on between corporations and labor unions. Nobody seemed to notice until the Los Angeles Times building was blown up with 21 workers there being killed. It was October 1, 1910 - a little over two months before my grandmother was born.

By the time I was born in 1952 nobody talked about the Los Angeles Times bombing anymore. By then people had been distracted by the Great Depression, World War II and the start of atomic warfare. How then could this author keep calling the Los Angeles Times bombing "The Crime of the Century" when so many other terrible and much worse things had happened? I don't know what I'd consider "The Crime of the Century" but certainly, it was not this. It is possible people back in 1910 were so distressed about this bombing and killing of 21 Times employees (scab labor) maybe they thought it was "TCotC" but... in 1910? Wouldn't they think that another 90 years should pass before someone would be qualified to decide which crime that would be?

Despite the annoying and mystifying "TCotC" remarks throughout the book and in the title, I got a feel for the 1910-1920 era through an examination of the personalities of three well-known men of that time: a private investigator, an attorney, and a filmmaker. (I wouldn't want to meet any of those three men in a dark alley.) The movie-making information felt peripheral to the bombing investigation and court cases, but it helped describe the culture, and the author did his best to connect the two situations.

I listened to the audiobook version of this narrative nonfiction. The narrator was not annoying... which is always a good thing. I can't say it was the best audiobook I've ever listened to but I'd give it a 4.5 to 5 star rating. I love the colors used on the front cover of the book, and I find the lettering and cover style very attractive.

You can see good photographs of the old LA Times building before and after the bombing on the LA Times Wikipedia page. I always like to do internet research while reading nonfiction books like these. ...more

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Oct 08, 2008 Jen marked it as to-read

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Mar 13, 2015 Sk888888 rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, true-crime

Jun 14, 2020 Tuck marked it as to-read

Shelves: edgar-winners-and-nominees

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