American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century

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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.

What Customers Say About American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century:

A compelling and provocative narrative of a three men who individually, simultaneously shaped American history.American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century

At first glance of the cover and description of this book, I was expecting something along the lines of "Ragtime" or "The Devil in the White City" or perhaps even "Compulsion", given the references to Clarence Darrow. The actual events described are also hardly the "crime of the century". Perhaps the problem (at least for me) is that when a book purports to describe criminal behavior in Los Angeles or Hollywood I expect that the theatrical elements of a good Hollywood crime story will play a part-- there will be drama and excitement. The writing is sparser and less compelling. Mr. The narrative comes from a distance and reads more like a journalist's or historian's description of events than narrative history. But it doesn't live up to any of those comparisons. The Lindbergh kidnapping or Manson murders might more rightly lay claim to that distinction.

It's hard to warm up to any of the characters and the dialogue seems stilted and uncomfortable. The depiction of events is painstakingly researched and carefully described, and it's an interesting story (arguably long forgotten), but there's something oddly distant about it all. I just didn't find it a page-turner, the way I usually find books of this genre. Blum is obviously an excellent writer-- I'd like to see more humanity thrown in with the research.

American Lightning is unusual in the sense that the author ties together a very serious criminal act with the development of the movie industry as well as modern detective work. In addition he follows the careers of a number of well known men who became entwined in the US labor movement and this terrible crime.

A fictional history of a real life bombing in Los Angeles in the early 20th century. The author attemps to weave the bombing with early movie industry people, which is unnecessary and actually only distantly related to the bombing. Much longer than it needs to be.

But because it happened in LA and in the proximity of Hollywood, of course it is hyped up as more than it really was.The real story is turning of business and labor disputes from negotiating to violence.The Italian Hall Massacre that occurred in Michigan in 1913 took the lives of 73 men, women and children when it is believed that a agent working for the copper mining companies yelled fire during the Christmas Party on Dec 24 shortly after a heated strike by miners over modernized equipment being installed in the copper mines that they felt would take away jobs. In bombings in the 20th Century, 168 people were killed when the Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed in 1995.In murders, John Wayne Gacy murdered 33 from 1972-78, which isn't nearly the highest number of murders either. While a tragic event, this bombing is hardly "The Crime of the Century". In Herrin IL in 1922, 22 men were killed during a mine strike.It seems that mine strikes were the most violent strikes in that era. Second was Huberty's killing of 21 at a San Diego McDonalds and then his being killed himself making the toll 22, So the LA Times crime is only 3rd largest single day crime in Calif. The 73 were killed in the stampede to exit the 2nd floor hall when there was no fire at all.On Easter Night of 1914 in Ludlow CO, 20 people were machine gunned in their tent city during a miner's strike there. But if you want a factual source of what was happening between management and labor in America at that time, this is not the place to find it.Since it isn't even the most violent labor crime, it also isn't the most violent crime of any sort by a long shot.

Other killers, both serial and single event, took many more lives than the 21 in this bombing.With murderers like Henry Lee who has been confirmed to have killed 189 and possibly as many as 300-600 people from 1960-83, Andrew Kehoe with 45 on 5/27/1927 (a school board member in Bath MI, he was angry because of a rise in his property taxes to build a new school so he set off three bombs, killing mostly 7-12 year old school children), David Burke with 43 on 12/7/1987, The Zodiac Killer with 37 from 1962-77, Donald Harvey with 36 from 1970-87, Ted Bundy with 35 from 1974-78, Dean Coril with 27 from 1970-73, Leonard Lake and Charles Ng with 25 from 1982-85, George Jo Hennard with 23 on 10/17/1991 (went into a Luby's cafeteria in TX and murdered 23 and wounded 20 before committing suicide), William Bonin from 1979-80, James Oliver Huberty on 7/18/84 and Patrick Kearney from 1965-77 each killing 21. In fact, it was hardly even the crime of the year since Labor had performed bombing all across the country at that time and the LA Times building was just one of them. While not in the USA the Americans at Jonestown had 918 people committed suicide because of their leader Jim Jones. There were 3 women, 11 children and 6 men killed by Colorado militia during a coal strike.At Cripple Creek CO 30 men were killed in a 1902 strike. So this bombing wasn't even the most violent labor attack of its era, let alone the entire 20th Century.So if you approach this book with that in mind it will be fairly enjoyable and entertaining. That means this crime, instead of being "The Crime of the Century" was instead is a 3 way tie for 13th place for the most murders in the 20th Century in AMERICA without counting labor murders.World-wide, it ties for 40th place, not counting government led killings, attempted exterminations or labor killings.It isn't even the largest crime in California, where former USAir employee David Burke killed 43 people near Cayucos CA by crashing PSA flight 1771 in an attempt at air piracy after SPA was purchased by USAir and he was fired for stealing %69 from the airline. If you include serial killers, it would be 3th in CA since Zodiac Killings were also in CA.So it is rather arrogant of the author to label this particular crime as "The Crime of the Century" by any stretch of the imagination.