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John Buntin

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L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City Paperback – April 6, 2010

by John Buntin (Author)

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Now the TNT Original Series MOB CITY

Midcentury 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.

Print length

448 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Crown
Publication date

April 6, 2010
Dimensions

5.16 x 0.91 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

0307352080
ISBN-13

978-0307352088
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Named One of Daily Beast's "Favorite Books of 2009"

"The best non-fiction treatment of this era and this subject matter that I've ever read. I couldn't put it down for like two days." —Academy Award nominated producer of MOB CITY

"Important and wonderfully enjoyable….A highly original and altogether splendid history that can be read for sheer pleasure and belongs on the shelf of indispensable books about America's most debated and least understood cities…..Utterly compelling reading."
—Los Angeles Times

"Completely entertaining….a colorful and entirely different take on the vices of Tinseltown."
—Daily Beast

"Echoes crime stylists Raymond Chandler and James Ellroy."
—American History

"L.A. NOIR is a fascinating look at the likes of Mickey Cohen and Bill Parker, the two kingpins of Los Angeles crime and police lore. John Buntin's work here is detailed and intuitive. Most of all, it's flat out entertaining."
—Michael Connelly

"A roller coaster ride....Gripping social history and a feast for aficionados of cops-and-robbers stories, both real and imagined."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Packed with Hollywood personalities, Beltway types and felons, Buntin's riveting tale of two ambitious souls on hell-bent opposing missions in the land of sun and make-believe is an entertaining and surprising diversion."
—Publishers Weekly

"Reads like a novel....almost impossible to put down. Buntin has written an important and entertaining book about one of America's greatest cities in the 20th century that echoes down to the world we live in today."
—Bookreporter.com

"In this breathtakingdual biography of mobster Mickey Cohen and police chief William Parker, John Buntin confronts America's most enigmatic city. For a half century and more, the chiaroscuro of Los Angeles, its interplay of sunshine and shadow, has inspired novelists and filmmakers alike to explore what Buntin has now explored in a tour de force of non-fiction narrative."
—Kevin Starr, University Professor and Professor of History, USC

"John Buntin's nonfiction cops and robbers narrative about mid-20th century Los Angeles is not only compelling reading, but a heretofore unexplored look into the LAPD and the city it tried "To Protect and Serve" during one of the most colorful and tumultuous eras in the always provocative history of the City of Angels (and badmen). Dragnet, One Adam Twelve, Police Story, LA Confidential all rolled into one captivating book. Buntin nails it in this great read.'"
—William Bratton, Chief of Police, LAPD

About the Author

JOHN BUNTIN is a staff writer at Governing magazine, where he covers crime and urban affairs. A native of Mississippi, Buntin graduated from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and has worked as a case writer for Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. A former resident of Southern California, he now lives in Washington, D.C., with his family.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Crown; 1st edition (April 6, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0307352080
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0307352088
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.16 x 0.91 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #280,624 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #422 in Organized Crime True Accounts
- #776 in Criminology (Books)
- #3,666 in U.S. State & Local History

Customer Reviews:
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4.3 out of 5

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Jason Reeser

An Epic View of L.A. in the 20th Century

Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2013

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I'm a big fan of old film noir, not such a fan of the old police docu-dramas. I've always loved watching the old TV shows like S.W.A.T and CHiPs, but I never enjoyed Dragnet or Adam-12. However...the new movie Gangster Squad really grabbed my attention, as did the recent video game L.A. Noir. So when I came across this book by John Buntin, I hoped it was as good as it looked. It was better, which is amazing, because that front cover is darned near perfect.

Buntin takes the story of LA's gangsters and the LAPD from the early 1900's up to the 1990's. He does so by following the careers of the two most prominent men from both sides of the law in Los Angeles: police officer Bill Parker and gangster Mickey Cohen. What follows is a fascinating tale of politics, crime, corruption, and the growth of a small California town into one of the largest and most racially complex cities in the United States.

What I liked most about this book was the way it bridged a number of eras into one seamless narrative. I look at the various eras of history through the lenses of movie and television cameras. The 1920's and 30's are characterized by the shaky, blurry black and white film that captured Los Angeles we know from movies like Charlie Chaplin's and early gangster flicks. There's the clearer yet darker film of the 1940's and 50's, showcasing the flashy yet dangerous L.A.of film noir. Early color TV and film was desaturated, low-keyed, as we watched Joe Friday and Malloy and Reed patrol the streets and track down criminals. A more colorful Los Angeles emerges in the 1970's and 80's, both racially and pop-culturally, midst the action of S.W.A.T. and Hunter, to name just a few TV shows, and countless movies. By the 1990's my view of Los Angeles was seen mostly through CNN, highlighted, or course, by the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots.

Why have I mentioned all of this? Because in L.A. Noir, the author ties all of these eras together, and you can see how crime and law grew and transformed along with this city. Yet, he does it through the viewpoints of two very unique people. Mickey Cohen is not your average gangster. He can be very peculiar, magnanimous, charming, and confounding. Parker, the career cop who becomes a Police Chief of legend, is just as strange. He is courageous in his youth, petulant to his superiors, naive to the ways of his fellow officers, politically ambitious, petty, yet quite the visionary as an administrator. His racial biases contribute to the Watts riots, which directly effects the eventual troubles surrounding the Rodney King stories.

Of particular interest was the shocking end of both men. If you don't know what happened to them, as I didn't, don't spoil the book by looking it up on wikipedia. Just read the book. The story is compelling, frustrating, sensational, funny (yes, there are many humorous moments), unbelievable, and terribly tragic. But through it all you might just come away with a new perspective on a police force that has been historically reviled.

Kudos to John Buntin for his exhaustive research and craftsmanship with his pen.

6 people found this helpful

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Scott Whitmore

Fast paced overview, misses some details but filled with interesting stories & characters

Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2014

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An overview of organized crime in Los Angeles from the Roaring 20s to the laid-back ‘70s, L.A. Noir: The Struggle For The Soul Of America’s Most Seductive City by John Buntin is a quick read, filled with interesting anecdotes and characters, but ultimately it leaves the reader wanting more.

Any book trying to tell a multi-decade story about a subject as complex as crime in one of the country’s largest cities is either going to be as big as a phone book or it will skim over a lot of details. I wasn’t looking for an in-depth analysis and the prose is both colorful and readable, giving the reader a good sense of the various time periods.

The pace moves quickly, beginning with Prohibition and ending with an epilogue during the Rodney King riots in the early 1990s, Mr. Buntin uses the stories of two men on opposite sides of the law as guideposts for the narrative.

William Parker was chief of the Los Angeles Police Department for 39 years, and has been called the greatest and most controversial chief in LAPD history. Parker was definitely an alcoholic and possibly a racist (if not by commission, certainly by omission). He learned all the tricks of political infighting and used loopholes in L.A.’s City Charter, some of which he put into place, to maintain his own position of power. A man who saw conspiracies (Communist, Mafia or Black Muslim) around every corner, Parker viscously attacked anyone who suggested his police department was ineffective or could be improved.

On the other side of the fence was Mickey Cohen, a locally born gangster and amateur boxer who also spent time in Chicago, New York and Cleveland. An associate of Bugsy Siegel and friend of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack, Cohen was an unrepentant killer and inarticulate hothead who later in life remade himself and became a media darling and foe of Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Cohen was also an obsessive-compulsive who took hour-long showers and changed clothes several times a day.

Along with Kennedy and Sinatra other big names made appearances, and Mr. Buntin does a good job detailing the beginning of the Watts riots in the mid-60s, but curiously enough other famous events go unmentioned, particularly the “Onion Field” killings in 1963 and the Manson family murders in 1969. True, other books have examined these events in much greater detail, but given both occurred in the timeline of the story and had bearing on other themes addressed (Onion Field killings resulted in a change in police tactics and Manson wanted his killings to spark the race conflict he felt was simmering in L.A.), I would have expected at least a mention.

Bottom line, if you’re interested in the subject, this is a great opening read. Lots of interesting stories that introduce the key people and themes readers who want to learn more can use to pursue in-depth histories.

2 people found this helpful

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Anna Sklar

Sins of our forefathers

Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2010

Verified Purchase

This is an excellent and spell-binding story of the history behind the glitter, glamour, and loosely-organized criminal history of L.A. from the twenties to the sixties. The truth behind the rise and fall of Mickey Cohen, gangster and pal of Hollywood celebrities; the intriguing story about William Parker, the chief cop who "cleaned up" the city; Parker's egotistical feud with J. Edgar Hoover; and the bit players who rose to later fame and fortune are presented in compelling fashion. To read this book is to understand how L.A. became and remains a city without a true political base, but with what is probably the strongest police force in the nation.

Wonderful characterizations bring the men and women (mostly men) of this story alive for a generation still hopped up on fast cars, movie stars, booze, and drugs. Gambling, for the most part, has been tamed and glossed over, no longer fodder for the few remaining newspapers. Ah, for the days of the truly outrageous and slightly libelous tabloids. After reading L.A. Noir, the reader may long for the tabloid reporting and multiple newspapers in this day of chic and shiny tv news personalities, the blandest newspaper in the West that often doesn't even print the serious news, but devotes pages and pages to soul-searching reporters personal quests. I think I'd prefer the reporters less intent, less sanctimonious, and who apparently never go on alcoholic benders (at least not publicly).

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

good book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 24, 2023

Verified Purchase

Bought as a present - the recipient loved it.

pkt

Great book especially for fans of the TV series Mob City

Reviewed in India on August 19, 2018

Verified Purchase

Basis for the short lived TV series Mob City, since I can't get another season of that, this is the next best thing.

Robert P. Brown

A Fascinating History Of Mob City

Reviewed in Canada on July 3, 2016

Verified Purchase

This well written and extensively researched history of Los Angeles from the 1920`s to the Rodney King riots in 1992, focuses on the often brutal, racist and corrupt police department (LAPD) and organized crime.

The two chief protagonists are the despotic, hard drinking Chief William Parker and gangster boss Mickey Cohen, who took over after his mentor, Bugsy Siegel ran afoul of the Mob in trying to establish a high class gambling casino in Las Vegas. The book is also filled with interesting sidelights, such as the relationship between Sammy Davis Jr. and Kim Novak, and the strange friendship Billy Graham had with Mickey Cohen , trying to get him to become a born again Christian. (Good luck with that !).

A fascinating book, which was the basis for the TNT mini-series, "Mob City".

One person found this helpful

Alexander Hamilton

Faszinierende Schilderung

Reviewed in Germany on January 26, 2014

Verified Purchase

Bin wegen der Serie "Mob City" auf das Buch gekommen, es ist aber nicht mit der Serie vergleichbar. Die Serie bietet Spannung und Action rund um die fiktive Figur des Detective Teague, während das Buch einen historischen Abriss der Unterwelt von LA im 20 Jhd gibt, mit besonderer Betonung der Auseinandersetzung zwischen Polizeichef Parker und dem Gangster Mickey Cohen. Wer sich für die Geschichte des organsierten Verbrechens und die teils dubiosen Gegenmäßen der Staatsorgane interessiert wird mit diesem Buch hervorragend bedient. Ganz aktuell ist die Diskussion um die Zulässigkeit von elektronischer Überwachung zur Verbrechensbekämpfung.

4 people found this helpful

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pete boughey

A real good book shows the hypocracy of power and big business ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 10, 2016

Verified Purchase

A real good book shows the hypocracy of power and big business corruption in high places, walking hand in hand with organised crime. Got a real insight of the character of Mickey Cohen and Bill Parker, the reality behind the facsade of the American dream.

One person found this helpful

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