American Lightning--

[rich]

there is a review in the NY Review of Books but it's not online.
another background for AtD

>From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. In 1911, Iron Workers Union leaders James and Joseph
McNamara plea-bargained in exchange for prison sentences instead of
death after bombing the offices of the Los Angeles Times—killing 21
people and wounding many more. The bombing had been part of a bungled
assault on some 100 American cities. After the McNamaras went to jail,
Clarence Darrow, their defense attorney, wound up indicted for
attempting to bribe the jury, but won acquittal after a defense staged
by the brilliant Earl Rogers. The McNamaras were investigated by
William J. Burns—near legendary former Secret Service agent and
proprietor of a detective agency. Surprisingly, Burns's collaborator
in the investigation was silent film director D.W. Griffith. This
tangled and fascinating tale is the stuff of novels, and Vanity Fair
contributing editor Blum (The Brigade) tells it with a novelist's
flair. In an approach reminiscent of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood,
Blum paints his characters in all their grandeur and tragedy, making
them—and their era—come alive. Blum's prose is tight, his speculations
unfailingly sound and his research extensive—all adding up to an
absorbing and masterful true crime narrative. (Sept.) ""