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  • American Noir: 11 Classic Crime Novels of the 1930s, 40s, & 50s: A Library of America Boxed Set

American Noir: 11 Classic Crime Novels of the 1930s, 40s, & 50s: A Library of America Boxed Set

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          Collects:
          CRIME NOVELS: AMERICAN NOIR OF THE 1930s & 40s
          The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
          They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? by Horace McCoy
          Thieves Like Us by Edward Anderson
          The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing
          Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Gresham
          I Married a Dead Man by Cornell Woolrich

          990 pages• 978-1-883011-46-8 Library of America volume #94

          CRIME NOVELS: AMERICAN NOIR OF THE 1950s
          The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson
          The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
          Pick-Up by Charles Willeford
          Down There by David Goodis
          The Real Cool Killers by Chester Himes

          892 pages• 978-1-883011-49-9 Library of America volume #95

          This adventurous two-volume collection 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.

          LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.