Introduction: film noir and the American dream
"Someone else's nightmare": exploring noir dreamscapes
Missing persons: self-erasure and reinvention
Vet noir: masculinity, memory and trauma
Framed: forging noir identities
Noir's cars: automobility and amoral space
Nocturnes in black and blue: memory, morality and jazz melody
Femmes vital: film noir and women's work
Left-handed endeavor: crime, capitalism, and the Hollywood left
Conclusion: American nightmares.