American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century

By Howard Blum

Monday 16 November 2009 at 11:40 am. Used tags: , , , , ,

This is an interesting book, revealing a time in American history of which I was largely ignorant, and drawing parallel with the present day war on terrorism. The big picture is a battle between labor and capital divided the country. Labor fought against terrible working conditions, and really gave us the working environment people take for granted today. Capital fought a well-funded war against it. It was a dirty war on both sides. Industry magnates had no scruples about intimidation with hired goons, and the union dynamited non-union facilities. It was especially divisive in Los Angeles, where strikes by butchers and others turned everyday events into political statements. You were either pro-labor, and supported the strike, going without meat, or were pro-capital, and ignored it. It was a polarizing environment.

Added to this, anarchists and other formed a domestic terrorist threat. Anarchists assassinated the president and had caused other destruction, and society treated them much like the terrorists of today. Then, as today, there were questions of how much enforcement of the laws should be subjugated to the fight against the terrorists. Then, as now, some ignored or took liberties with the laws, believing that the end justified the means. I would be interested to read more about this topic, how America dealt with terrorism before and lessons learned from that experience, but that is not this book. This book touches on the topic, but says more focused on the events of the LA Times bombing.

I have wondered how the fight between labor and capital shrank to the point where people don't think much about it. I think the main answer is that labor won - labor victories like the 40 hour workweek became law. Who needs the union, then, if the working conditions aren't so bad? I think a secondary factor was labor's own excesses. The unions became as greedy and corrupt as capitalists they fought. The unions morphed into a force against change, institutionalizing inefficiency because it would line the pockets of the unions and its members, and fighting against any form of meritocracy.

But back to the book. I'm about 80% of the way though the book, and it has been a interesting read. However, the pace was more interesting in the first half, during the investigation that spanned the country, and it is slower now that it is examining legal and illegal maneuvering proceeding and during the trial.