William Lindsay Gresham

The author of Nightmare Alley (1946) continues his probing portraiture -- this time in one ward of a TB hospital, -- and produces grim effects tempered by more human motivations, some gentler characters. Catalyst for the destinies of those around him is Ben, still fighting for his fellowmen, for the workers, nearer and nearer death. There is his love for Gallagher, one of the nurses, his determination to write before his strength goes, his ambition to make clear the battle of the little and the big men. Gallagher returns his love, and still tries to save young Dr. Crane from his vicious mistress, who is also boss politician, Hanlon's mistress. There is Dr. Rathbone whose stuffed shirtism is punctured by the death of prizefighter Wash after a rib section, by Ben's sudden death. There is an ex-grifter, a preacher, a foreign born taxi driver, a small time gambler, a terrorized Jewish merchant -- all in one way or another caught in the tragedy of Ben's dying, in the hope inherent in Crane's new found love for Gallagher. The depths of disease -- physical, moral and political -- make this something quite different than the usual hospital story, give it a sombre tone. — Kirkus Reviews.

This adventurous volume, with its companion devoted to the 1930s and 40s, presents a rich vein of modern American writing too often neglected in mainstream literary histories. Evolving out of the terse and violent hardboiled style of the pulp magazines, noir fiction expanded over the decades into a varied and innovative body of writing. Tapping deep roots in the American literary imagination, the novels in this volume explore themes of crime, guilt, deception, obsessive passion, murder, and the disintegrating psyche. With visionary and often subversive force, they create a dark and violent mythology out of the most commonplace elements of modern life. The raw power of their vernacular style has profoundly influenced contemporary American culture and writing. Far from formulaic, they are ambitious works which bend the rules of genre fiction to their often experimental purposes.