It may be hard to imagine that there was ever a time in American history when terrorist and criminal bombings were as commonplace as today's random acts of gang violence. For more than a century, long before the words 'Al Qaeda' or 'ISIS' ever became part of our national media lexicon, bombing incidents have played a significant part in American crime annals, including right here in Los Angeles. Car and truck bombs, suicide bombers, train and airplane bombings, gangster bombers, lunatic bombers and committed terrorists and extremist bombers. There were big bombs and little bombs. For much of the Twentieth Century all that stood between outright anarchy and order were the policemen, detectives, intelligence specialists and bomb disposal officers who faced down the bombs and bombers alike. Sadly, much of their work is largely forgotten. This is the story of just a few of those bombings. Presented as well-researched case studies, the author, himself a veteran detective and bomb technician, offers a look at just a few of the many bombs, bombers and bombings that have plagued the Los Angeles area for nearly a hundred years.