American Lightning

Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century

By: Howard Blum

Narrated by: John H. Mayer

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.

©2008 Howard Blum (P)2008 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Extraordinary…[reads] like a horseless-carriage episode of ’24.’”—Wall Street Journal

“An absorbing, novel-like narrative…masterfully crafted…Blum’s dedication to digging for facts and adhering to journalistic principles in reporting this entangled and multifaceted tale l00 years after the fact raises comparisons to Truman Capote’s diligence in writing In Cold Blood…American Lightning is a must-read.”—USA Today

“Hugely engaging…has tremendous verve…American Lightning throws valuable new light on an episode that seems, for us today, particularly pertinent. Terrorism happened here.”—Los Angeles Times

Excellent, start to finish!

I found this so interesting, so well-written and such excellent narration! In fact, I only knew bits of what happened but was almost sorry it ended..
Great narration too!

Terrorism Existed in US Long Before 9/11

This is a story that would have been received differently prior to Sept 11, 2001. In the first half the author presents parallel two stories: DW Griffith, filmaker, and Billy Byrnes, private detective. In the second half, the personal and public battles rage around the allegedly illegal arrests and trials of the perpetrators of the 1910 LA Times bombing. The story drags in some spots but they are few. The reader has a nice voice and reads well.

I found the secret!

I found this book to be quite compelling. The parallel stories of three men: D. W. Griffith, the pioneering American film director. William Burns, the private detective. And attorney Clarence Darrow. Their lives intersect around the bombing of the L.A. Times newspaper in 1910, which was called “the crime of the century” (until of course, the next “crime of the century” came along 22 years later, when Charles Lindbergh’s baby was kidnapped).

These three very different men provide us with a personal view of the huge changes taking place in America during this turbulent time. The story kept me interested and fed my curiosity.

I almost gave up on this book, however, because of the narrator’s style. I found that nearly every sentence was read with such drama that I continually wondered if I had missed something. The good news is that I discovered a solution that made the book much more enjoyable. I increased the speed of the narration to 1.25x the original and found it condensed those dramatic pauses to a point where the story worked; at least for me.

Great book

Narrator was great. I blazed through this book-it was very interesting and historically informative. As an amateur student of history, the most fascinating part was to hear about a few characters I had read about in other situations, such as Clarence Darrow who participated in the Scopes Monkey Trial in Dayton, TN. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in historical nonfiction.

excellent

i loved it so much, I'd like to buy the film rights! the details are immense but expertly woven together.

very interesting popular history

OK, this is not serious, footnoted analytical history, of the kind I like to read (or tell myself "it is good for me"), but that kind of history doesn't often lend itself to good audio-listening. American Lightning does. It recovers the biography of the Burns detective agency, a story I did not know, it does a nice recounting of the wave of "anarchist" and organized labor bombings of symbols of capitalism in the first decade of the 20th century, including how famed lawyer Clarence Darrow got intertwined with it. And it (less successfully) incorporates the roots of the modern movie business in New York & S California in that period too.

The book is well-written & very well-read. It passes by as if effortlessly as an audiobook, although I suspect it would be more annoying to read due to some of its organizational jumpiness.

I recommend it very highly. Both for itself and, if it tickles your interest further, in directing the reader to learn more about the three protagonists in other books elsewhere.

A fascinating tale

Never heard about this story but boy is it a doozy . Larger than life characters , some I only knew little if nothing about, are covered here very fairly I thought by Blum . He weaves the violence of the Labor Wars against the birth of Hollywood quite well .
Mayer's narration is spot on . He does a fine job with all the characters, and there is a lot, so he doesn't sound the same all the way through. Just enough so you know it's a different person talking. bad narration can kill even the best of audible books. No worries there. As for the cast of characters they are a varied lot . Some good and other downright despicable. Surprisingly to me Darrow comes across as a real sleazy character. But I'd definitely want him as my lawyer especially in this circumstance. Burns is another fascinating guy . D W Griffith who rounds out the 3 major characters really is establishing Hollywood as we will know it . All in all a great listen about a part of American history that I and I'm sure many never heard of. highly recommended .

Not an easy listen

This history of three famous personas is interesting, but the author goes a bit too far at times in attributing thoughts and feelings to the characters. Sometimes it's armchair psychology (e.g., the feelings of Billy Burns' son Raymond with respect to his father), sometimes it's just stretching to make the characters seem more real. The author also makes excuses for the womanizing of Darrow, as if to make him a more sympathetic character, but not for Griffin. So we get more than history in the author's attempt to make this an interesting read.

But whether you think the story is interesting or not, you will have to get used to the narrator's style. If you listen to the Audible edition of the NY Times, you may have a sense of this style -- like he's reading the news. Every once in a while, he throws in a slight bit of emotion or accented speech, but it's pretty blase. Nothing personal -- just that I have gotten used to some very talented narrators here on Audible and this didn't come close. It makes it harder to pay attention to what he's reading.

Engaging, intersting story but could use an editor

This was an interesting story about a period in American history that does not get much coverage anywhere else. It attempts to weave several threads together as the story line progresses, but I found the story line too complicated, disjointed and the connection tenuous at best. Still, a good story, history you might not already be aware of, well narrated and interesting. So, overall - worth the read.

Dramatic rendering of history

Enlightening and thrilling account of the violent events and subsequent prosecution of labor activists in early 20th century United States. Biographical insight into the lives of major participants, contributors, and influencers of the time.