Back to the Badlands

Crime Writing in the USA

By Williams, John H.

Publishers Summary:
"A gazetteer of American noir."-Daily TelegraphIn the summer of 1989 John Williams donned a baseball cap and took off for the States to search out the mythical America of modern crime fiction-to find James Ellroy's Los Angeles, Elmore Leonard's sleazy South Beach of Miami, Sara Paretsky's Chicago, and many others on a tour of the American underbelly. The result was Into the Badlands, a riveting collection of interviews. In 2005 Williams returned to discover that much had changed in the intervening years, both in crime writing and in America as a whole. As Williams crosses America in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, he finds himself in a profoundly uneasy country. Whether their territory is inner-city DC, like George Pelecanos, or the rural white poverty of the Ozark Hills, like Daniel Woodrell, the best crime writers today are sending dispatches from the edge. John Williams brings their visions together to construct a powerful, personal portrait of America today. Includes interviews with James Lee Burke, James Ellroy, James Crumley, Sara Paretsky, Eugene Izzi, Elmore Leonard, George V. Higgins, Vicki Hendricks, Kem Nunn, Kinky Friedman, Daniel Woodrell, and George P. Pelecanos.

 Not Rated. Be the first to rate this product!

ISBN
978-1-85242-921-8
Publisher
Serpent's Tail


REVIEWS

Library Journal

Reviewed on February 26, 2007

British author/provocateur/former rocker Williams revisits an earlier collection of interviews focusing on crime writers and the locales they haunt, stirring up a casserole of crime, coolness and casualties, the latter being the cities memorialized by the writers. The first part of the book contains a selection of interviews conducted in 1989 for the original volume, and the rest is material gathered during a visit in 2005. Miami-based Carl Hiassen says of hi...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Become a Pro


This feature is only available to Pro subscribers. Please log in, or upgrade your subscription.

Add To My List

cover
by

This feature is only available to Pro subscribers. Please log in, or upgrade your subscription.

Export


This feature is only available to Pro subscribers. Please log in, or upgrade your subscription.

Save List Search Query


This feature is only available to Pro subscribers. Please log in, or upgrade your subscription.

Follow Lists


This feature is only available to Pro subscribers. Please log in, or upgrade your subscription.