Into the Badlands [Hardcover]

John. Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 9, 1991

In "a vital mix of literary criticism, personality profiles, and imaginary geography" (New Statesman and Society), Williams seeks out the mythical America of the nation's most astute chroniclers--the crime writers--to find Elmore Leonard's Miami, Sara Paretsky's Chicago, and Andrew Vachss' New York, among others.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers; First Edition edition (May 9, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0586090754
• ISBN-13: 978-0586090756
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,513,340 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Grand Tour of American Crime (circa 1989), May 25, 2001

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Into the Badlands: Travels Through Urban America (Paperback)

This unpretentious literary travelogue provides an excellent window into a number of top American crime writers and the (mostly urban) areas they inhabit. Williams' 1989 circuit of the U.S. is a kind of crime fiction grand tour, as he visits thirteen established and up-and-coming authors (only one of whom is female) in ten locations, each of which gets about 20-25 pages or so, as follows:

Miami >> Carl Hiassen (Lucky You, Stormy Weather), James Hall Louisiana >> James Lee Burke New Mexico >> Tony Hillerman Los Angeles >> James Ellroy, Gar Anthony Haywood San Francisco >> Joe Gores (32 Cadillacs) Missoula, MT >> James Crumley (Bordersnakes) Chicago >> Sara Partesky, Eugene Izzi Detroit >> Elmore Leonard (Be Cool, Cuba Libre, Pronto, Pagan Babies, Riding the Rap) Boston >> George V. Higgins New York >> Andrew Vachss

Williams is clearly a believer in detective fiction as social portraiture and commentary, and like myself, he's most interested in what is generally classified under the catchall terms "hard-boiled" or "noir." That is to say, crime novels about the everyday criminal world, as opposed to semi-mythical world of "The Godfather," the serial-killer world of Hannibal Lechter, or the cozy world of crime-solving cats or little old ladies. Williams tends to stay in the cheaper, and thus seedier, parts of the places he visits, and tries to get the writers to show him around, show him their world. In addition to touring the seedy side of America, Williams often takes side-trips of a musical nature--as befits his music journalist career. His contrasting of a (white) cajun fete with a (black) zydeco dance is one of the truly telling parts of his journey. The conversations with the writers are intermittently interesting, although it's interesting to note that many of them came from impoverished backgrounds and came to writing by accident. Another similarity is their rough treatment at the hands of Hollywood. Most of the writers are extremely forthcoming and open with Williams, the most notable exception being Higgins, who comes off as a pompous ass in comparison to the rest of the book's subjects.

Some twelve years after Williams' trip, it's rather amazing to find that 12 of the 13 writers are still going strong, with a string of books to their credit from the intervening years. Indeed some, like Carl Hiassen, James Lee Burke, James Ellroy, and Elmore Leonard have gotten considerably more famous. The one writer who isn't still producing is Eugene Izzi, who was found dead in 1997, hanging from his 14th-story office window in what was ruled a bizarre suicide...

Since writing this book, Williams has gone on to write crime fiction himself, including the 1983-set London novel Faithless, and a collection of stories set in the Cardiff underworld, Five Pubs, Two Bars and a Nightclub.

5.0 out of 5 stars the dark underbelly, November 11, 2011

By 

Brian Maitland (Vancouver, BC, Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Into the Badlands: Travels Through Urban America (Paperback)

Reconfirms everyone's fears of America as a cesspool of crime...at least on the printed pages of crime novels. Interesting cross between a sort of "60 Minutes" like take on various crime writers but interviewing them about their lives in the cities they set their stories in. I found Andrew Vachss's New York to be the closest to his novels esp. his little tour of the streetwalker districts. You do not have to be a fan of any of these writers to get something out of this book. In fact, many of the vignettes turned me onto writers I had never heard of before. A good introduction into both the crime novel genre and the people and places behind these stories.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Way It Is, September 18, 2011

By 

Atar Hadari (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Into the Badlands: Travels Through Urban America (Paperback)

A great, no-nonsense look at how people actually live while writing crime fiction, heck, while writing anything. This is the book to read while deciding how you're going to finance that writing career.