Scene of the Crime: Photographs from the LAPD Archive (Hardcover)

~ Tim Wride (Author), James Ellroy (Author), William J. Bratton (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gorgeously lurid, this perfectly selected set from the LAPD archives comes complete with a foreword from the force's commissioner (who praises the current force and cites its continuing challenges) and a rat-a-tat introduction from Ellroy (L.A. Confidential, etc.), who sees the force as "a tormented giant working toward hard moral truths." The truths that are on display in this book are mostly mortal, and they are, to a page, frightening and absolutely riveting. The LAPD's crime scene photographers, from the 1920s to the 1960s, may have been part of a corrupt force, but they were brilliant photographers, framing and using light in ways that look completely contemporary; the ghastly scenes they capture—mostly of murders and some of execution-style multiple murders—are morbidly arresting. Ellroy dwells on the time travel the photos afford, but other readers will find them timeless, both in the stillness of the deaths they record and in the sameness of the images from decade to decade, as if they were all trapped within the Los Angeles of Barton Fink. That effect can be credited to the book's production team (including editor Deborah Aaronson, designer Brankica Kovrlija and project organizer and archivist Robin Blackman for Fototeka); it gives the book a cohesion and force that most archive-based books, including crime-scene compendia, lack.
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Product Description

Los Angeles in the decades after the Depression was a smoldering powder keg of vice, corruption, violence, and some of the most sensational crimes in American history. The Black Dahlia slaying, the Onion Field murder, film star Thelma Todd's mysterious death, the killing of Kansas City gangsters "The Two Tonys" by Jimmy "The Weasel" Fratiano: these are but a few of the cases that once riveted the nation's attention and were captured in striking crime-scene and forensic photographs for the Los Angeles Police Department.

Long forgotten in a warehouse, these recently discovered photographs from the LAPD archive form a powerful visual history of the underbelly of Los Angeles from the 1930s to the 1960s. Although disquieting and often brutal, the images have an atmospheric, eerie beauty that belies their documentary purpose. They are accompanied here by captions from police logs and original newspaper accounts, along with an introduction by James Ellroy, the leading practitioner of the Los Angeles noir genre, and an essay by curator Tim B. Wride discussing the archive's importance to social history and the history of photography. AUTHOR BIO: William J. Bratton is the 55th chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and has also served as police commissioner for both the Boston and the New York City police departments. James Ellroy's books include the international best-sellers The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, White Jazz, and American Tabloid. Tim B. Wride is associate curator of photography at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (October 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810950022
• ISBN-13: 978-0810950023
• Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 8.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #719,947 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Only half the story!, September 26, 2004

By	Robin Benson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Scene of crime photos like other professional images (medical, a racetrack photo-finish, IDs, speed cameras etc) don't need to worry about creative input, they just need to give basic information, tell a story and that's it. The 133 case study photos in this handsomely designed and printed book certainly captured my interest and I wanted to know more.

At this point the first problem arises, all the captions are at the back of the book, despite the fact that many of the photos are on pages with plenty of white space. At the back the photos are presented as thumbnails but even here it gets confusing, the captions are in a separate text block to the thumbnails. The reality is that all the captions could easily be with the relevant photos if the book had been designed a bit differently or if the captions had to be in the back they should have been placed below the relevant thumbnails.

There might be a reason for this rather inadequate arrangement though because (problem two) there are sixty-five photos, which when you turn to read the caption, you'll find the photo date, a one or two word description and then 'Case information unavailable'. So, amazingly, for about half the photos in the book there are no captions, no story to tell. To my mind this seems a fairly fundamental editorial failure especially considering that the LAPD archives probably contain over a million case photos and surely 133 could have been selected that had their case material available.

As to the photos, they are the usual selection of battered and bloodied bodies in car wrecks, living rooms, bedrooms, eateries or just plain anywhere, ransom notes (bank robbers are not a very literate bunch) mug shots and plenty showing the ordinary, mundane detritus of crime. Historically they cover the twenties to the seventies and fortunately you'll find no celebrities here.

There seems to be a growing interest in publishing crime photos, I have a copy of 'New York Noir' (ISBN 0847821722) a beautifully produced book of images from the archives of the New York Daily News and the rather more crudely produced (and this probably gave the photos more impetus) 'Death Scenes' (ISBN 0922915296) a very explicit collection of photos collected over the years by LA detective Jack Huddleston.

'Scene of the Crime' is an intriguing book that could have been far more interesting if it had delivered all that it promised, so only three stars. BTW, if you are sensitive about photos of dead bodies don't buy it.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LAPD Scene Of The Crime (captions), November 17, 2004

By	Merrick Morton "Archivist for the Los Angels ... (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Just a note on other reviews in regard to the lack of captions. The LAPD negatives are not kept with the case files. There are very few case files even available, as they have been destroyed due to lack of space. There is a normal descruction process within the LAPD for paper files. The cases researched in this book were taken from old homicide log books. Also newspaper databases were used. If you would like more details on the LAPD Archive please visit fototeka.com

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great photos, bad design, October 2, 2004

By	Erik Asla "asla231" (los angeles, ca USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The books contains numerous great photos, but the design of the book brings down the overall impression. First of all, the format is unusual, unattractive and cumbersome. Too small to be a coffee table book, too tall for many bookshelves.
Additionally, the fact that the captions (and explanations) are all found in the back of the book is a huge error. When browsing the images one has to continually switch back and forth between image page and caption page. I also agree with a previous reviewer that the fact that so many images have no information/file available is a huge loss. The quality of the image material is,however, beyond comparison. Very impressive and interesting photos indeed.