Ten of the best riots in literature

For the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best riots in literature.

One book on the list:

The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West

West's sour tale of a young man trying to make his way in depression-era Hollywood ends with a riot at a film premiere. A California crowd made irascible by their own disappointed dreams are ready for violence, and one small altercation sets them off.

Read about the other entries on Mullan's list.

The Day of the Locust is on Jane Ciabattari's list of the five best novels on Hollywood, Jonathan Kellerman's list of the top ten LA noir novels, and Peter Conn's list of the five best novels from the Great Depression; it also appears on Jonathan Evison's list of books about the Spirit of California.

--Marshal Zeringue