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Carregando... A Bright and Guilty Place: Murder, Corruption, and L.A.'s Scandalous Coming of Age (2009)de Richard Rayner
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Registre-se no LibraryThing tpara descobrir se gostará deste livro. Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. This absolutely fascinating book explores Los Angeles and environs from the mid 1920s into the 1930s and details the workings of The System: the intricate web of corruption and wealth that tied together the criminal underworld and police and legal networks. Real crimes--and their cover ups--are described. If this sounds like the stuff of noir authors like Raymond Chandler, Chandler himself was there and plays in own small part in the sordid goings-on. The book goes beyond the reality of graft to show how it inspired a film and literary genre that continues today. ( ) This was a really fun read. I have grown up in Los Angeles and did not know that this city had so much history. What I like most about this book is the light, pulpy kind of feel to it. It was not dry history - it was actually a page turner. So why the 3.5 stars? The author has a tendency to wander off on random rabbit trails of facts that don't relate to the main story line. I found this to be somewhat irritating. I found myself scanning forward and skipping paragraphs at times. It did not happen much, but when it did it irked me. The storyline was fascinating and well documented. Imagine all the corruption, full characters and intertwined stories that read like noir fiction -- but it's real. 1920 - 1930's is told with all the details that seem more like fiction that real life. If llike Chandler or any LA Noir, you will like this book. It is so much easier to understand where the writing comes from and the feeling it leaves you with when the book is closed. It was these real life characters that lead Raymond Chandler to be the writer he was. Narrative non-fiction is a rare gift and this book was like Christmas. Rayner makes believable the mystique and mythology of LA noir, which inspired a whole genre of writing (pulp fiction) and film (film noir), through his exhaustive research and the retelling of the lives of two lesser known historical figures whose destinies are interwoven with the glamour and corruption that was LA's messy coming of age. sem resenhas | adicionar uma resenha
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1920s Los Angeles was the fastest growing city in the world, mad with oil fever, get-rich-quick schemes, celebrity scandals, and religious fervor. It was also rife with organized crime, with a mayor and a DA in the pocket of the syndicates. Here, historian Richard Rayner narrates the entwined lives of two men, Dave Clark and Leslie White, who were caught up in the crimes, murders, and swindles of the day. Over a few transformative years, as the boom times shaded into the Depression, the adventures of Clark and White would inspire pulp fiction and replace L.A.'s reckless optimism with a new cynicism. Together, theirs is the tale of how the city of sunshine got noir. Key events include the theft of water from the Owens River Valley that let L.A grow, the Teapot Dome scandal, and the emergence of crime writers like Raymond Chandler who helped mythologize L.A.--From publisher description. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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Google Books — Carregando... GênerosClassificação decimal de Dewey (CDD)364.1097949409042Social sciences Social problems and services; associations Criminology Crimes and OffensesClassificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos E.U.A. (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
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