L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City

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Orion Publishing Group, Limited, 2014 - 432 pages
Mid-century Los Angeles. A city sold to the world as 'the white spot of America', a land of sunshine and orange groves, wholesome Midwestern values and Hollywood stars, protected by the world's most famous police force, the Dragnet-era LAPD. Behind this public image lies a hidden world of 'pleasure girls' and crooked cops, ruthless newspaper tycoons, corrupt politicians, and East Coast gangsters on the make. Into this underworld came two men - one L.A.'s most notorious gangster, the other its most famous police chief - each prepared to battle the other for the soul of the city. The Mob had to contend with downtown business, City Hall, and above all the LAPD - and the story is gripping.

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About the author (2014)

John Buntin, a staff writer for Governing Magazine (90,000 subscribers) and a former case writer at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, has made a specialty of writing about law enforcement, and in the inner circles of government he is well known as an expert on the subject. His study of how Bill Bratton and Rudy Giuliani reduced crime drastically in New York, and his profile of Boston's successful campaign to rid the city of youthful gun violence both became standard case studies in government courses across the United States. Following Bratton's career when the innovative police chief moved to Los Angeles, Buntin uncovered a history too fascinating and too important to ignore.

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