American Tabloid is a 1995 novel by James Ellroy. It was TIME magazine's Best Book (Fiction) for that year.

[ISBN 037572737X]

The story begins on November 22, 1958 and describes five years of American history. The main plot follows three rogue American law-enforcement officers and their involvement in the John F. Kennedy assassination.

Kemper Boyd is an FBI agent personally selected by Director J. Edgar Hoover to infiltrate the staff of Hoover's personal nemeses, Senator John F. Kennedy and his younger brother Robert. Ward Littell, Boyd's friend and former partner, who spies on socialists and hates the Mafia. Pete Bondurant, a former Los Angeles Sheriff's deputy and billionaire Howard Hughes's current bodyguard joins the CIA for its secret campaign against Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. The failed Bay of Pigs invasion turns all three men against President Kennedy and fuels the conspiracy to kill him.

The historical cast also features Sam Giancana, Carlos Marcello, Jack Ruby, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., Peter Lawford, Frank Sinatra, and Jimmy Hoffa. It is followed by a sequel, The Cold Six Thousand.