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Hard-Boiled Hollywood

Crime and Punishment in Postwar Los Angeles
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( 26 ratings, 4 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Hard-Boiled Hollywood explores the dark realities behind Hollywood’s glamorous facade during its postwar upheaval. It centres on the mysterious deaths of Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia, and Marilyn Monroe, whose tragic fates reveal corruption and crime beneath the studio system’s collapse. The book captures a tense era where celebrities, moguls, mobsters, and desperate souls clashed in a city that was vibrant yet perilous.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book will appeal to readers interested in Hollywood history, true crime, and the darker side of American cultural mythology.

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Two spectacular dead bodies-Elizabeth Short, known as the Black Dahlia, found dumped and posed in a vacant lot in January 1947, and Marilyn Monroe, found dead in her home in August 1962-bookend this new history of Hollywood's postwar transition.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The tragic and mysterious circumstances surrounding the deaths of Elizabeth Short, or the Black Dahlia, and Marilyn Monroe ripped open Hollywood’s glitzy façade, exposing the city's ugly underbelly of corruption, crime, and murder. These two spectacular dead bodies, one found dumped and posed in a vacant lot in January 1947, the other found dead in her home in August 1962, bookend this new history of Hollywood.

Short and Monroe are just two of the many left for dead after the collapse of the studio system, Hollywood’s awkward adolescence when the company town’s many competing subcultures—celebrities, moguls, mobsters, gossip mongers, industry wannabes, and desperate transients—came into frequent contact and conflict.

Hard-Boiled Hollywood focuses on the lives lost at the crossroads between a dreamed-of Los Angeles and the real thing after the Second World War, where reality was anything but glamorous.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

National Post praises Jon Lewis’s deep expertise, noting his portrayal of Hollywood as a complex, dangerous industry punctuated by compelling stories.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780520284326

Publisher: University of California Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 19 April 2017

Country: United States

Imprint: University of California Press

Illustration: 41 b-w

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 15.0mm

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 363g

Pages: 248

About the Author

Jon Lewis is Distinguished Professor of Film Studies and University Honors College Eminent Professor at Oregon State University. He has published eleven books, including Whom God Wishes to Destroy ... : Francis Coppola and the New Hollywood and Hollywood v. Hard Core: How the Struggle over Censorship Saved the Modern Film Industry, is past editor of Cinema Journal, and served on the Executive Council of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies.

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