American Crime Fiction: A Cultural History of Nobrow Literature as Art

Like to most people, history to me is boring and not interesting. Yet reading American Crime Fiction I discovered that history can be very funny and full of entertainment IF you find the right book. American Crime Fiction is such a book. Although it deals with popular fiction and popular culture, it is also big on history. In many ways it is a reflection on the corruption of America during the twentieth century. The author’s writing technique is absorbing and fascinating; he makes everything come to life like in a movie. There are five chapters in the book, and I particularly love Chapter 2, which is about Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest (1929) – hardboiled detectives and John Grisham’s The Rainmaker (1995) – legal hero. Both fictions and their central characters are the embodiment of American justice. In 1920s, the country was controlled by Ganglands, in the 1980s America was controlled by corporate Gangsters. How much or how little has changed? You will have to read the book to find out :)

Interestung