"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Hurtling from Las Vegas to Vietnam to Cuba to Memphis and back again (and all points in between), from Dealey Plaza to opium fields to smoke-filled back rooms where the mob holds sway, the novel traces the strands of complicity, greed, and fear that connect three men to a legion of supporting characters: Ward Littell, a former Feeb whose current allegiance to the mob and to Howard Hughes can't mask his admiration for the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King; Pete Bondurant, a hit man and fervent anti-Communist who splits his time between Vegas casinos and CIA-sponsored heroin labs in Saigon; and Wayne Tedrow Jr., a young Vegas cop who's sent to Dallas in late November 1963 to snuff a black pimp, and who is fighting a losing battle against his predilection for violence: "Junior was a hider. Junior was a watcher. Junior lit flames. Junior torched. Junior lived in his head."
And behind these three, J. Edgar Hoover is the master puppeteer, pulling strings with visionary zeal and resolute pragmatism, the still point around whom the novel roils and tumbles. At once evil and comic, Hoover predicts that LBJ "will deplete his prestige on the home front and recoup it in Vietnam. History will judge him as a tall man with big ears who needed wretched people to love him," and feels that Cuba "appeals to hotheads and the morally impaired. It's the cuisine and the sex. Plantains and women who have intercourse with donkeys."
The Seussian comparison isn't that far-fetched: Ellroy's novel, like the children's books (and like the very decade it limns), is flexible, spontaneous, and unabashedly off-kilter. Weighing in at a hefty 700 pages, The Cold Six Thousand is a trifle bloated by the excesses of its narrative form. But what glorious excess it is, as Ellroy continues to illuminate the twin impulses toward idealism and corruption that frame American popular and political culture. He deftly puts unforgettable faces and voices to the murkiest of conspiracy theories, and simultaneously mocks our eager assumption that such knowledge will make a difference. --Kelly Flynn
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. 2.35. Seller Inventory # 0679403922-2-1
Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published 2.35. Seller Inventory # 353-0679403922-new
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. Brand New Copy. Seller Inventory # BBB_new0679403922
Book Description Softcover. Condition: New. ADVANCE READER. Signed by Author. Seller Inventory # BK3397
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0679403922
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. Buy for Great customer experience. Seller Inventory # GoldenDragon0679403922
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. Seller Inventory # 002279
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0679403922
Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0679403922
Book Description Soft cover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. RARE Advance Reader's Edition. Uncorrected Proof-Not For sale. New copy never read.Trade Paperback. Back cover has a small scratch on the bottom. Cover and Book are beautiful. Collector's Copy. Seller Inventory # 000287