Eternity Street

"Hugely readable ... Faragher is one of the great living American historians, and his area of expertise is the American frontier. His 1992 biography, “Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer,” is a modern classic, and “Eternity Street” is destined to become one." -- Allen Barra - Chicago Tribune
"[A] fascinating account of the twisted threads of murder, ethnic violence and mob justice in 19th century Southern California. . . . The sheer power of these events. . . burn up these pages. . . . The insights gained may help dissect gang violence, drug violence, honor killings, witch killings — even the unseen internal disputes of the various peoples subjected to recent counter-insurgency and state-building projects." -- Jill Leovy, author of Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America in the Los Angeles Times
"Eye-opening … As you read, you may regret that There Will Be Blood was already taken, but Faragher’s book is the ideal prequel to Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 epic about SoCal’s formative years in the early twentieth century." -- Tom Carson - Bookforum
"Groundbreaking … if you read Professor Faragher’s Eternity Street you will be enlightened to discover the violent story of the West—real and imagined—today’s and yesterday’s—begins and ends in Los Angeles." -- Stuart Rosebrook - True West Magazine
"Faragher’s stories evoke Cormac McCarthy. In a grim but riveting narrative, languid preconceptions of Edenic California’s birth give way to murder and mayhem, carnage and cruelty. Eternity Street describes human beings at their worst, but this is American history at its best." -- Elizabeth Fenn, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Encounters at the Heart of the World
"Gripping and authoritative, this is a masterwork of scholarship and literary grace. Faragher’s dark portrait of L.A. pulls no punches and asks us to consider what grim DNA yet lurks in the City of Angels." -- William Deverell, University of Southern California, author of To Bind Up the Nation’s Wounds
"In Eternity Street, John Mack Faragher has unearthed a blood-soaked history of nineteenth-century Los Angeles that blows away ‘Wild West’ fantasies. Faragher’s masterwork should be read by all who wish to understand more about the violence that has shaped the American past." -- Stephen Aron, UCLA, author of The American West: A Very Short Introduction
"Through chilling anecdote and skilled storytelling, John Mack Faragher explores the experience of frontier violence for L.A.’s Mexican, Anglo, Indian, Black, and Chinese residents. This may just be the true origin story for L.A. noir." -- Amy Greenberg, Penn State University, author of A Wicked War
"Eternity Street will be an enduring landmark. Faragher’s stories are not happy ones, but they are ones we need to remember if we hope to embrace the West’s full history and cope with the legacy that continues to bedevil us." -- Elliott West, University of Arkansas, author of The Last Indian War