Between the Great Depression and the start of the Cold War, Hollywood went noir, reflecting the worldly, weary, wised-up undercurrent of midcentury America. In classics such as Laura, Sweet Smell of Success, and Double Indemnity, where the shadows of LA and New York pulse with killers, corpses, and perilous romance, failure is not only a logical option but a smart-talking seduction.
Exploring the genre’s origins, its look, its politics, and its geography, Ann Douglas shows how noir’s poignant cynicism took hold—and why it remains embedded in the national psyche today.
