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6 reviews for:
A Bright and Guilty Place: Murder, Corruption, and L.A.'s Scandalous Coming of Age
Richard Rayner
3.56 AVERAGE
6 reviews for:
A Bright and Guilty Place: Murder, Corruption, and L.A.'s Scandalous Coming of Age
Richard Rayner
3.56 AVERAGE
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Outstanding nonfictional narrative weaving together the related stories of Leslie White (best known for his memoir Me, Detective) and David Clark (known, if at all, for his murder of crime boss Charlie Crawford). Along the way Rayner touches on everything from the life and career of Clara Bow to Einstein's friendship with Charlie Chaplin to the invention of hardboiled crime fiction. Every page had a new nugget I wanted to race off and find more details on.
Rayner provides a bibliography and notes on what sources he used for each chapter, so well worth the time for people interested in the history of Los Angeles in the 1920s and 1930s.
Rayner provides a bibliography and notes on what sources he used for each chapter, so well worth the time for people interested in the history of Los Angeles in the 1920s and 1930s.
Rayner draws a compelling and evocative portrait of Los Angeles in the '20s and '30s using the diametrically opposed stories of two men who illustrate the contradictions of the age. A good motivation for me to read some Chandler.
An interesting read for fans of Raymond Chandler and James Ellroy - it's a history of LA in the 20s and 30s focusing mostly on the corrupt politics of the time. Various stars (Charlie Chaplin, Clara Bow) make cameos. I never realized that at the time LA was as corrupt as NY or Chicago.
It took me a while to get into this one, but by about the third or fourth chapter I was definitely captivated. I bought this books years ago after finishing "L.A. Noir". Having never visited Los Angeles before, and never even going to California, I was surprised at how wrapped-up I got in its history. It's got such a deep, colorful, oftentimes shady history that will definitely pull you in regardless of your proximity to the city. Half the time it feels like you're reading a script for a movie being filmed in its shimmery, famous Hollywood hub, and yet these are all real. Definitely fascinating, and definitely a topic I'd love to read even more about.