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18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting Subject, but Scant History in Dull Novelization., September 16, 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
"American Lightning" presents one chapter in the fierce cultural war of strikes, propaganda, politics, and violence that raged between labor unions and capitalist businesses in the early part of the 20th century: On October 1, 1910, six explosions destroyed the "Los Angeles Times" building, leaving 21 people dead and 17 injured. The owner of the "Times" newspaper was vehement anti-union propagandist Harrison Gray Otis. The bombing was immediately assumed to be part of a campaign by anarchists to attack the mechanisms of capital in which more than100 bombs were planted across the nation. The city of Los Angeles hired Billy Burns, former Secret Service agent and founder of the Burns Detective Agency, to find the persons responsible.
This is history for the popular fiction market. "American Lightning" tells the story of Billy Burns' investigation and the subsequent campaigns of public relations, witness intimidation, and juror bribery that took place as the three men whom Burns accused awaited trial in Los Angeles. Author Howard Blum relates the story in the style of narrative fiction, like a novel. He attempts to weave together the stories of three prominent men who helped shape this period in American history and were, in turn, shaped by the war between labor and capital: detective Billy Burns, crusading attorney Clarence Darrow, who represented the accused men, and filmmaker D.W. Griffith, who moved his operations from New York to Los Angeles in the midst of all the furor.
I appreciate that Howard Blum is trying to bring a forgotten chapter of American history to a broad audience. The 1910s were a time when the nation's security was threatened by very real violent conspiracies but Americans managed, for the most part, to prevail without succumbing to paranoia on a large scale. But "American Lightning" is hopelessly superficial and choppy for a history book. There is only enough information about the radical labor movement to place the story in a vague context. The many references to D. W. Griffith have nothing to do with the subject. There is an excess of filler, but the reader is left starved for real understanding. The intent is evidently to write a real-life thriller driven by three iconic characters, but this isn't a page-turner. It's an easy read but not informative enough to be history and not gripping enough to succeed as a novel.
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12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Real Sleeper (I mean the kind to put you to sleep), September 26, 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I'm quite clearly in the minority on this one. Other readers seem mostly to have had a good read with this. I found it hard to keep my eyes open.
The cover blurb says "Terror, Mystery, Movie-making and the crime of the century." Well, maybe. But I couldn't find much of any of this. Though I think I'm fairly literate in 20th-century American history, I was only vaguely aware of the bombing of the LA Times building and could easily cite others to label as the crime of the century. How about the Lindbergh kidnappping? Any number of serial killers? But I do concede it's interesting to get some information on this.
The Griffith/Pickford aspects of film-making, as presented here, are superficial at best. There's a lot that has been written on how film-making came to southern California, far more engrossing than the bits here.
William Burns, Clarence Darrow -- throw together a few well-known names of the period, place in pot and stir. If this type of novel interests you, try E.J. Doctorow who is masterful at thus recreating a period and making it meaningful.
I hope others might enjoy this book. It's certainly not terrible, but it's just as certainly not great.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Tries to follow the footsteps of DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY, but falls short, October 8, 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I eagerly jumped into AMERICAN LIGHTNING, anticipating something along the lines of the historical work of Eric Larson (DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY, ISAAC'S STORM). The description promised to bring together the lives of 3 celebrities of the early 20th century...people whose lives would cross in unexpected ways. Also, I anticipated a coming together of some major events in a way that would create an unexpected synergy (much in the way the story of serial killer H.H. Holmes and the story of the Chicago World's Fair blended in WHITE CITY).
Unfortunately, I was much disappointed. This is not to say that the events explored in AMERICAN LIGHTNING were inconsequential or uninteresting...they were fascinating without a doubt. But a hard-to-describe element was missing...perhaps the synergy I mentioned above or perhaps a true sense of being swept up in these old events in a way that made them immediate.
AMERICAN LIGHTNING tells the story of a domestic "terrorist" attack in early 1900's Los Angeles. It was a time when the strife between labor and capitalists, between unions and owners, was reaching a boiling point. Things had moved from mere demonstrations and strikes to violence and threats of more violence. When a bomb was detonated in the offices of the Los Angeles Times, 21 people died in the fire that followed...and a manhunt was launched to find those responsible. Some theorized that unions were behind this bombing. Other, more conspiracy-theory minded, thought the owners had done it themselves in order to stir public sentiment against labor. A frame-up, if you like.
The first major character to enter the scene was world-famous detective William Burns. It's interesting to realize there was a time when a detective could be world-famous...and not fictional like Sherlock Holmes. Burns and his considerable network of detectives, went on a nationwide manhunt for the perpetrators. The best parts of the book for me show how rudimentary forensic work and simple, tireless plodding eventually uncovered the truth. Burns certainly engaged in some tactics which these days would probably have had the whole case thrown out of court...but which I found clever and almost admirable. Certainly the resources used to solve this "crime of the century" were considerable, although primitive.
When the case comes to trial, it is the very famous lawyer Clarence Darrow (later of the Scopes Monkey Trial...the inspiration for the classic play & movie INHERIT THE WIND) who takes the spotlight. We come to learn of his internal conflicts and of his sometimes unscrupulous methods. The tricks both sides try to use to sway the case come across like cheap manipulations that wouldn't make it onto LAW AND ORDER...but apparently they were state of the art legal tactics in their day.
And threaded through all of this is the presence of early film pioneer DW Griffith. He's the director who really saw the storytelling tool film could become, and we see his early evolution as an artist, leading up to his creation of the masterwork BIRTH OF A NATION (and yes, I know it is a horribly racist film and distorts history...I'm only commenting that it was a masterpiece in its scope and artistry, as well as groundbreaking for its day).
Clearly author Howard Blum has introduced Griffith to this story (even though he is EXTREMELY tangential to it) in an effort to create this synergy. Griffith is inspired by the plight of laborers and this inspires his work. His work thus informs and inspires the public. That may all very well be true...but at no point does the story of Griffith really fit into the main story of this crime. In fact, it creates almost the opposite of the synergy I was looking for. It was a distraction and broke up the rhythm of the book.
There are really two stories here worthy of a book. The story of the crime, which is told fairly well here...and the story of early filmmaking, which feels like padding in its context in AMERICAN LIGHTNING. If the portions of the book about Griffith were simply cut...this would not have been a book-length piece. But I would have argued for no Griffith, but more background on Burns and Darrow. We're only told a little bit about how they each arrived at the place they are when the book starts. I think a few pages more devoted to each man would have sufficed to strengthen and lengthen the book. Griffith could easily be made the subject of a book all on his own (and no doubt has been many time).
Blum is not the best writer, either. His work is not clumsy or incompetent...but for most of the book, I felt as though I were reading something that was really written for a Junior High audience. A "grown-up" book for youth. While I didn't quite feel "talked down" to...I also didn't feel challenged or enlightened by the prose. It was a solid, interesting story told in a solid, workmanlike manner. I believe it could have been much, much more.
I will recommend the book, but not heartily. The history to be learned here is interesting and worthwhile. But unlike the Larson books I cite above, you won't read it avidly like you would a brilliant novel either.
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