Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-[272]) and index.
Contents
Preface and acknowledgments. -- Starting points: the place and the writers. -- Boosters and boasters: the making and unmaking of a myth. -- The twenties and beyond: oil, movies, and salvation. -- View from the back room: the hard-boiled thirties. -- Down these mean streets: the tough-guy detective story. -- Sargasso of the imagination: the Hollywood novel. -- Down and out in Los Angeles: from Bunker Hill to the Barrio. -- Black dahlias and zoot suits: the recovery of history. -- Endings and beginnings: surviving Apocalypse.