Convention Book of the Day: Crime & Punishment in L.A.

In a week in which the Republican Party has highlighted national security and law-and-order issues, Henry Bemis Books is pleased to feature the work of a leading conservative American author:

James Ellroy, My Dark Places: An L.A. Crime Memoir (Alfred A. Knopf, 1st ed., 1996). ISBN 0-679-44185-9. The author of The Black Dahlia sets out to close the file on his mother’s murder unsolved after 38 years. Hardcover, octavo, unclipped dust jacket, very good condition. “Signed by the Author” sticker on front of dust jacket. HBB price: $200 obo.

At 68, the author of bestsellers like The Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential, Ellroy has staked his ideological turf clearly. As one source puts it:

Ellroy frequently has espoused conservative political views, which have ranged from a vague anti-liberalism to authoritarianism. In an October 15, 2009, Rolling Stone interview, Ellroy said that in the 1960s and 1970s "I was never a peacemaker; I was a f**k-you right-winger." He has also been an outspoken and unquestioning admirer of the Los Angeles Police Department (despite his explicit depictions of brutality, corruption and Machiavellian bureaucratic scheming in the LAPD that appear in some of his works), and he dismisses the department's flaws as aberrations, telling the National Review that the coverage of the Rodney King beating and Rampart police scandals were overblown by a biased media.[32] Nevertheless, like other aspects of his persona, he often deliberately obscures where his public persona ends and his actual views begin. When asked about his "right-wing tendencies," he told an interviewer, "Right-wing tendencies? I do that to f**k with people." Similarly, in the film Feast of Death, his (now ex-) wife describes his politics as "bullshit," an assessment to which Ellroy responds only with a knowing smile. Privately, Ellroy opposes the death penalty and gun control (he owns over 30 guns).

In 1a 2014 interview, he explained his views:

JAMES ELLROY: I’m thrilled that you came out to see me. I realize that you had options tonight. You could have stayed home and attended to your sex lives, your drug habits, your fatuous worship of President Barack Obama, and you didn’t. You came here to see me, and I’m nothing but grateful.

BARBASH: You’re a self-described right-winger, which makes you an anomaly in the world of writers. It’s hard to find very many Republicans at all amongst writers. Why do you think that is?

ELLROY: People are afraid of appearing inhumane. People are afraid to say, “I believe in God. I am theocratic. I believe that God’s law rules the world and that it is more important than secular freedom.” People are afraid to say, “I believe in capitalism.” People are afraid to say, “I firmly believe that America must rule the world.” I think many people share it; few, outside of right-wing pundits, voice it. But it comes down to this: I don’t care what people think of me. I have a wonderful readership. People either agree with me or they don’t. It’s ok. I like folks just fine, and as far as critics go, I like them to the extent that they like me, hate them to the extent that they hate me – though I tend not to indulge hatred; it’s a negative emotion – dismiss them to the extent that they dismiss me. I do not review books. I do not engage in literary feuds, because people work hard to write books. I’m a very exacting critic, and I don’t want to shit on anyone.

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