Product Description
Here is a saga of the roaring twenties, with its glorification of business, its get-rich-quick mentality, and its paucity of government regulation--which bred speculation, corruption, and corporate chaos throughout the country. The Great Los Angeles Swindle exposes the schemes of C. C. Julian and his Julian Petroleum Corporation, known familiarly to thousands of Los Angeles residents as Julian Pete, thanks to Julian's folksy weekly newspaper ads. The Julian Pete swindle ranked with Teapot Dome as one of the great scandals of the era and symbolized the failure of 20s boosterism and speculation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Maginificent LA History
For those of who grew up in Los Angeles during the 1960s, much of the past was obscured, unless you went to the Huntington Library or had access to good oral history from those who lived in the City of Angels while it was growing up, in the 1920s and 30s. My parents never told me of the great oil land grabs, although they were a big part of Angeleno lore. My mother the historian was more aware of the auto companies' diabolical shutdown of the street-car system in the late 1940s, and of the Hollywood Blacklist period, than of the land-and-resource grabbers.

Tygiel has thoroughly researched this history of the pitchmen and speculators who ripped through fertile Los Angeles looking for black gold. Sleazy-though-lovable salesmen, corrupt (and virtuous) district attorneys, town fathers-- all are portrayed here by an unbiased journalist and student of L.A. history who should do more books on the subject.

I am a fifth-generation Californian who has lived in New York for many years, and I thirst for more history of my hometown (Los Angeles) at every turn. Jules Tygiel has sated that thirst for the time being with his cogent take on the LA of the (fictional) Chinatown era. Now, he should get a three-book deal to write even more about the period, which I shall earnestly await.

Ripping story, well told
This book reads like a well-written detective story, with fascinating characters, unforseen plot twists, and a breezy narrative style.It is, unbelieveably, a true story, which makes it even more mind-boggling.

For native Angelenos, another fascinating feature of the book is the history of the city's development. This was a formative period when city fathers were just beginning to aspire to civic greatness.Tygel has woven LA's history through the book and dropped in wonderful historical tidbits.

Fascinating narrative history
Con-men, scandal -- this well-written narrative history of Los Angeles in the 1920s reads like a great movie. Recommended!

Sloppy & boring; very disappointing.
It's a real slog trying to get through this badly written, repetitive, and seemingly pointless work. With the fascinating real-life stories he had to work with, it's a wonder the author could produce such a dull book. Itreads like a very rough first draft; very unprofessional.

Disappointing
This book is banal. I was hoping formore sophisticated analysis. This isan area of California history that deserves better than this effort. ... Read more

Product Description
Reprint of the 1915 American history book, with maps and charts. ... Read more

Product Description
Where The Twenties Weren't Roaring describes life from 1926 to 1929, away from the "boom times" taking place in the cities. It reflects memories of the author, written through her eyes as an interested, observant child participating in the daily business of life, but too young and inexperienced to bear any responsibility.

She relates how it felt to ride across the country in a touring car before the national highway system was developed. She depicts the eating, sleeping and sanitary accommodations available then.

She tells of work activities such as worming tobacco, drying apples, milking, and hunting, and of such social activities as box suppers, a cemetery cleaning off, Sunday school and Camp Meeting.

These experiences take place in Lyon County, Kentucky; however, folks from many rural areas will find themselves on familiar ground. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Where the Twenties Weren't Roaring
This is an enjoyable walk down memory land for anyone acquainted with rural America in the 1920s...or anyone who yearns for a simpler world.Catherine draws loving and respectful pictures about a time that is so very different from our current stressful situation.A gentle book ...rather like a cup of hot cocoa and a friend when you're feeling lonesome.

Where the Twentys wern't Roraring
This book is a fine, easy read.Catherine's ability to describe an era so that I can recall vividly the feel of it is outstanding.This is the type of book that tells it like it was, and could be an eye-opener for those born into the post-WWII era.

This book does not have a plot as such, but rather describes in vivid, real terms what it was like to live in the early days of the automobile: lacking indoor plumbing, cooking your own meals alongside the road when traveling, etc. ... Read more

Product Description
Idema brings a psychoanalytic perspective to his analysis of religion and culture. The heart of Idema's argument, following Freud, is that secularization ushered into western culture an increase of neurosis. Idema's theory of secularization is applied to each of the authors he has selected to illustrate three principal effects of the decline of religion. ... Read more

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The Mexican Revolution--that violent, inchoate, never-quite-complete break with the past--opened a new era in Mexican art and letters now known as the "Mexican Renaissance." In Mexico City, a coterie of artists including Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros explored how art could forward revolutionary ideals--and, in the process, spent countless hours talking, gossiping, arguing, and partying. Into this milieu came Anita Brenner, in her early twenties already trying her hand as a journalist, art critic, and anthropologist. Her journals of the period 1925 to 1930 vividly transport us to this vital moment in Mexico, when building a "new nation" was the goal.

Brenner became a member of Rivera's inner circle, and her journals provide fascinating portraits of its members, including Orozco, Siqueiros, Rufino Tamayo, and Jean Charlot, with whom she had an unusual loving relationship. She captures the major and minor players in the act of creating works for which they are now famous and records their comings and goings, alliances and feuds. Numerous images of their art brilliantly counterpoint her diary descriptions. Brenner also reveals her own maturation as a perceptive observer and writer who, at twenty-four, published her first book, Idols Behind Altars. Her initial plan for Idols included four hundred images taken by photographers Edward Weston and Tina Modotti. Many of these images, which were ultimately not included in Idols, are published here for the first time along with stunning portraits of Brenner herself. Setting the scene for the journal is well-known Mexican cultural critic Carlos Monsiváis, who offers an illuminating discussion of the Mexican Renaissance and the circle around Diego Rivera.

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Product Description
Kindle edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel. The book examines the lives and morality of post-World War I youth. This edition includes an active table of contents.Amazon.com Review
Fitzgerald's first novel, reprinted in the handsome Everyman'sLibrary series of literary classic, uses numerous formal experimentsto tell the story of Amory Blaine, as he grows up during the crazyyears following the First World War. It also contains a newintroduction by Craig Raine that describes critical and popularreception of the book when it came out in 1920. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (114)

A story of crippled souls
Amory Blaine was born to an eccentric mother and a cold and distant father. This is the story of his life, but more than that it is the story of his search for love, and his search for meaning - both ultimately disappointingly unsuccessful.

I gather that this book, the first one that F. Scott Fitzgerald published, was wildly successful when it was first published, in 1920. It really spoke to the Lost Generation. Well, reading it now some 90 years later, it does not have the same impact - nor could it.

As a window on the Lost Generation, or at least on their tastes, it is quite interesting. As I read the book, I could not help but reflect on a thinker I knew many years ago who spoke of people who loved themselves best, but were forever on a fruitless search to find someone who would love them more. All of the characters in This Side of Paradise have that same problem - a deep and overwhelming love for themselves which makes them unable to give unconditionally of themselves.

I suppose that is why I did not find myself enjoying this book at any point - there is nothing uplifting here. The crippled souls of the characters only inspired pity in me, as I watched what I knew to be their fruitless search for love and meaning.

So, if you are interested in the Lost Generation and the 1920s, then you will probably enjoy this book. If you are looking for a work of literature that will feed your soul and send you forward, then you will probably not enjoy this book...as indeed, I did not.

Youth speaks.
When first published in 1920 This Side of Paradise rapidly became a bestseller and launched the career of its 24 year old author, F. Scott Fitzgerald. The novel's protagonist, Amory Blaine, is clearly a stand-in for Fitzgerald himself.
The book traces Amory's life from early childhood to young adulthood and describes in great detail his challenges and conflicts as he reaches maturity in the very turbulent second decade of the 20th century.Amory, like the author, becomes a Princeton man.Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of This Side of Paradise is that Fitzgerald's unbridled nostalgia for his time spent at Princeton comes through loud and clear. (The fact that he never managed to graduate does not seem to have diminished his fond memories one iota.)
By his own admission, Amory is an egotistical elitist who has little or no empathy for the less fortunate lower classes.Much of the novel consists of Amory's introspection on the true nature of love, personal fulfillment, the relevance of religion and other equally obtuse subjects.This Side of Paradise is also a bit odd from a structural standpoint in that there is an overabundance of poetry interspersed with the prose and one of the more important chapters is written largely in the form of a play complete with lines of dialogue and stage direction.
Those inclined to criticize this book will see it as a hodgepodge of self-indulgence.But to the generation who came of age circa. 1920, it contained much that rang true.

Perfecting his craft?
Part of the problem with Fitzgerald's being affiliated with a prized novel, The Great Gatsby, is that the author's other novels must be compared to it. I use this as an opening because, while the instances of early talent in the writer are here in his debut novel, the story, even though richly autobiographical, fell a little flat. Maybe this is part due to the fact that for a good deal of the book the protagonist, Amory Blaine, is pretty much synonymous with the shallow, aimless generation that Fitzgerald and other Lost Generation authors tried to depict. With the exception of minor moments of insight late in the novel, Amory is as superficial as the world seems around him.

Some have a problem with the experimental format of This Side of Paradise. It is written as a narrative, poem, drama, letter and journal. I didn't feel that way, and thought it gave a unique aspect to the novel. Fitzgerald's technique seems to coincide with the modern novel of experimenting with narrative. However, the story's subject itself clearly comes across as an author working into his craft, rather than having perfected it.

Within the story, Amory Blaine searches for identity and meaning of life amid outside influences--his mother, the world, the war, his acquaintances at school, his friendships, and his loves. While there were some moments of insight, the story comes across as a bit flat and meandering. In the final estimation, the characters were a bit too artificial.

Fitzgerald's movement towards perfecting his skill is evidenced, however. There are some valid insightful moments for the protagonist in the book's concluding pages, and Fitzgerald's style is evidenced in these brief snapshots. Fitzgerald's style would be perfected later in The Great Gatsby.

This pretty much takes me back to my original argument. The Great Gatsby is vastly superior in terms of depth, narrative and likability of main protagonist than This Side of Paradise. Not to say that there isn't a glimpse of talent here, and future higher achievements, but I'd rather be reading The Great Gatsby.

Definitely not my cup of tea
I have to say that I found this book tobe quite boring.i've been laid up for a few weeks. I have a Kindle so have been able to read and enjoy many of the classics.This was a book i had to stop reading several times and always wondered why i returned to it. I will try something else by Fitzgerald from his later years. I won't give up on someone others consider a brilliant writer.

Paradise Lost
I love F. Scott Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby, his almost florid romanticism and his poetic prose.The first part of This Side of Paradise had me completely, youngglib man going to Princeton, full of himself, living a frivolous college life, falling in and out of love.I awaited the story's last part, wondering how his life might turn out.Instead, about mid-way through, and with virtually no coverage of Armory's WWI duty on the front lines, we are served a random, lazily assembled smorgasbord of poetry, memos, script form dialogue, long-winded essays on a very young person's attempt to come to terms with the world, etc. etc. etc.Most disappointing of all is the author's failure to explore the serial failure of his love affairs, a subject I wish he had addressed in far greater depth.

I kept on to the end, because of my interest in Fitzgerald's tragically short-lived career.Greatness I suppose was his with Gatsby, for it is work whose substance come through in a structural maturity, forming a contrast to the insubstantial characters and the shallow lives they live.A preface to the Paradise I read by defender Aaron John Loeb acknowledged the book's "technical errors."No, no,, we are talking strucutral errors.

And still, there is the soul of this author; but what a wasted opportunity that he should have been allowed by his editor (not Max Perkins, I hope) to stop working after the first 100 pages. Because of its second-half collapse, I can only give this book two stars.

David Lewis / Showbizdavid ... Read more