American lightning
Subtitle: terror, mystery, movie-making, and the crime of the century
By: Howard Blum.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Crown Publishers
Published: 2008
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 339
ISBN-13: 9780307346940
Subjects: Otis, Harrison Gray, -- 1837-1917; Bombings -- California -- Los Angeles -- History -- 20th century; Terrorism -- California -- Los Angeles -- History -- 20th century
Description: A tale of murder, deceit, celebrity, media manipulation, and film as propaganda, when the bombing of the Los Angeles Times building in 1910 exposed a deadly "national dynamite plot" by trade unionists to terrorize America with one hundred bombings in a doomed attempt to force capitalism to its knees. The relentless pursuit, capture, trial, and punishment of the bombers made a national hero of master detective Billy Burns, and entangled crusading defense lawyer Clarence Darrow in a reckless, nearly career-ending scheme to bribe witnesses and jurors and throttle justice. Meanwhile, the events inspired D.W. Griffith to make his groundbreaking film The Birth of a Nation.