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The Amazon Store at MillionDollarPetPix.com ( In association with Amazon.com )American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Centuryby: Howard Blum  List Price: $34.95 Amazon.com's Price: $23.07 You Save: $11.88 (34%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: Audio CDDewey Decimal Number: 364.1523097949409041 EAN: 9780739374559 Edition: Unabridged Format: Audiobook, Unabridged ISBN: 0739374559 Label: Random House Audio Manufacturer: Random House Audio Number Of Items: 9 Publication Date: September 16, 2008 Publisher: Random House Audio Release Date: September 16, 2008 Studio: Random House Audio Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Product Description: It was an explosion that reverberated across the country—and into the very heart of early-twentieth-century America. On the morning of October 1, 1910, the walls of the Los Angeles Times Building buckled as a thunderous detonation sent men, machinery, and mortar rocketing into the night air. When at last the wreckage had been sifted and the hospital triage units consulted, twenty-one people were declared dead and dozens more injured. But as it turned out, this was just a prelude to the devastation that was to come. In American Lightning, acclaimed author Howard Blum masterfully evokes the incredible circumstances that led to the original “crime of the century”—and an aftermath more dramatic than even the crime itself. With smoke still wafting up from the charred ruins, the city’s mayor reacts with undisguised excitement when he learns of the arrival, only that morning, of America’s greatest detective, William J. Burns, a former Secret Service man who has been likened to Sherlock Holmes. Surely Burns, already world famous for cracking unsolvable crimes and for his elaborate disguises, can run the perpetrators to ground. Through the work of many months, snowbound stakeouts, and brilliant forensic sleuthing, the great investigator finally identifies the men he believes are responsible for so much destruction. Stunningly, Burns accuses the men—labor activists with an apparent grudge against the Los Angeles Times’s fiercely anti-union owner—of not just one heinous deed but of being part of a terror wave involving hundreds of bombings. While preparation is laid for America’s highest profile trial ever—and the forces of labor and capital wage hand-to-hand combat in the streets—two other notable figures are swept into the drama: industry-shaping filmmaker D.W. Griffith, who perceives in these events the possibility of great art and who will go on to alchemize his observations into the landmark film The Birth of a Nation; and crusading lawyer Clarence Darrow, committed to lend his eloquence to the defendants, though he will be driven to thoughts of suicide before events have fully played out. Simultaneously offering the absorbing reading experience of a can’t-put-it-down thriller and the perception-altering resonance of a story whose reverberations continue even today, American Lightning is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction. From the Hardcover edition. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - An intriguing tale......too bad it wasn't a novel. Such an immense project, the retelling of this important interlude in America's history. And the amount of effort that clearly went into it...staggering. But considering how great the story is, with all of its modern parallels...and with the recent election, and the epithet 'socialism' being bandied about relentless, how apropos this chunklet of history is...it runs out of gas before it reaches its destination. And it's a shame. ... Read More Rating:  - Not a history buffI am not a history buff so I found parts of this book to be similar to reading a text book. The book is well written but I think I will stick to more fiction and sci fi for my future reads. Rating:  - Murderous Scandal at the Turn of the CenturyThis outstanding historical novel takes the reader on a fascinating journey back in time to a forgotten time and place - turn of the century America. Howard Blum's book follows renowned detective Billy Burns furtively across an America flirting with all-out class warfare as he tries to solve what Americans called 'the crime of the century'. (Obviously, Americans had no idea what was in store for them later.) Burns, like all the other protagonists of the story, is a self-made man in a rough-and-tumble, ... Read More Rating: - Interesting, but a bit uneven.American Lightning gets off to a great start with the bombing of the office of the Los Angeles Times in October 1910, and the introduction of three major players in the story: D.W. Griffith, Billy Burns, and Clarence Darrow. Perhaps the most interesting story is that of Billy Burns, the detective who was hired to discover the parties responsible for the bombing and bring them to justice. Enter Darrow, who defended those responsible J.J. and Jim MacNamara. As a sideline, Blum recounts the development of ... Read More Rating: - THREE'S A CROWDAMERICAN LIGHTNING would be a better book and a better piece of history-writing if Howard Blum had limited himself to giving the reader the portrait of just one American original from the early 20th century instead of three. He should have followed Simon Winchester's example by focusing on the most obscure of the three: William Burns, the greatest detective of his time, founder of a nationwide detective agency that bore his name, and President Harding's choice to head the Bureau of Investigation -- predecessor ... Read More 
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