In the 1850s, the City of Angels was little more than a pueblo, yet it was already infamous as one of the most murderous societies in America. Saloons teemed with rowdy crowds of Indians and Californios, Mexicans and Americans from the East. As John Mack Faragher recounts, men ambled down dusty streets, armed with Colt revolvers and Bowie knives. In this fascinating look at Los Angeles in its grim Old West days, Faragher tells of a newspaper editor advocating lynch law in the name of racial justice; hundreds of Latinos massing to attack the county jail, determined to lynch a hooligan from Texas; and streets prowled by thousands of wild dogs.