American Tabloid
by James Ellroy · first published 1995
83% recommend17% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Gripping, fast-paced noir and conspiracy fiction with a wild ride tone. Its sprawling, unapologetically fictional take on the period's tangled crime and political underworld drives the story.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
We are behind, and below, the scenes of JFK's Presidential election, the Bay of Pigs, the assassination - in the underworld that connects Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago, D.C.... Where the CIA, the Mob, J. Edgar Hoover, Howard Hughes, Jimmy Hoffa, Cuban political exiles and various loose cannons conspire in a covert anarchy... Where the right drugs, the right amount of cash, the right murder, buys a moment of a man's loyalty... Where money, power, influence and even the Presidency of the United States are up for grabs... Where three renegade law enforcement officers - a former L.A. cop and two FB
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…with strong mob connections (many of whom died in suspicious circumstances over the next ten years). Each of those, on its own, is enough to launch a thousand conspiracy theories. BTW: I really love American Tabloid by James Ellroy. It doesn't pretend to be "true" but it's a lot more compelling that JFK. Anyway, in 2025 the LA Times can declare that Jimmy Hoffa died of natural causes.
on “Nov. 22, 1963: 50 years, and still no conspiracy” ↗Check out American Tabloid by James Ellroy if you're a fan of Libra.
on “Don DeLillo deserves the Nobel” ↗i love me a good unsubstantiated conspiracy theory. my favorite became a great james ellroy novel "american tabloid". this story didn't have as much punch as 'tabloid', but was still fun nonetheless.
on “The Real Truth about Apple and Google and Arrington” ↗I read American Tabloid first and then Libra after learning that Ellroy cited it as a spiritual inspiration. I also enjoyed American Tabloid more. Libra is a character study of Oswald and a piece of post-modern fiction (about…
on “Don DeLillo deserves the Nobel” ↗If you want to try some modern-er noir, American Tabloid by James Ellroy is a wild ride.
on “Raymond Chandler’s guide to street, hoodlum, and prison lingo” ↗Got any recommendations? I don't really have any complaints about this list, but I would include: The Castle - Franz Kafka American Tabloid - James Ellroy The Inheritors - William Golding American Pastoral - Philip Roth The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler
on “Book Club: 100 best novels of all time” ↗Pale Fire by Nabokov and American Tabloid by Ellroy
on “Cormac McCarthy Explains the Unconscious” ↗I just finished American Tabloid and I don’t think there was a single honorable character in the whole novel. Not one, out of dozens.
on “What Gets Kept” ↗