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welcometothe90smrbanks's review against another edition
4.25
like driving in la — sometimes you’re stuck in traffic and other times you’re cruising down the 405
rc90041's review against another edition
5.0
An indispensable book about L.A. Relentlessly, and, at times, absurdly pessimistic and bleak, but full of passages of deep, dark, frightening beauty. Davis likes nothing better than to revel in descriptions of the dark beauty of the city he loathes and fears, but obviously loves, in his own perverse, obsessive way. The chapters on Prop 13 and homeowners associations (Homegrown Revolution) and the spatial control in L.A. (Fortress L.A.) are especially powerful. If you're interested in L.A., you have to deal with this book at some point.
matt_books's review against another edition
5.0
my first foray into the world of audiobooks using the audible account i got for free through a workplace wellness program starts here. maybe a bit dense to be listened to mainly while preparing dinner and doing laundry, i perhaps may have to have to modulate my choices from here towards slightly dumber shit
sarkycogs's review against another edition
5.0
Recently learned about this lefty history of >100 years in LA up to 1990 and knew I needed to read it. Growing up on the suburban outskirts, part of the white wealthy flight from the city center, so much of why the city is the way it is seemed slippery, ephemeral, lost to time. Almost all of this was new information which unlocked explanation and personal connection to the urban planet my hometown orbits.
Mike Davis writes with plain prose and snide wit, wearing his judgments on his sleeve as he lays down the facts. And the facts show a consistent chaotic struggle for power and control among wealthy elites, at the inevitable expense of blacks, latinos, native peoples, and the working poor. LA is the inorganic result of various cohorts of boosters "establishing," "founding," "remaking" the next vision of utopia that nevertheless turns out a bit bleaker and a bit cheaper than promised. Davis writes the city variously as the site of a Downtown v. Westside Gatsbyish social spat, an HOA-Nimby guerrilla war v. unending Global Development, a Catholic mission on the rim of the known world, a sparkling, power-washed deathtrap of anti-street-culture and hostile urbanism, and a bomb of racist abuse and neglect about to explode. He sees LA as a living omen of what's to come in cities nationwide, and was largely correct by my view (less than 2 years later, his bomb did go off in the citywide riots).
Each chapter takes a different historiographical lens to the picture, while often drawing connections and building on what he's already said. I did not expect the book to end on a 60-page essay on the city of Fontana, but by the time he told the story it made perfect sense as the conclusion. You hear all the time that LA has no history, no memory, and it's easy to see what they're saying. But uncovering some of that history we don't have offers so much explanation towards why we're here now, who made it this way, and who was left behind. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who has known or lived in some small, atomized, isolated island in the sprawl of Los Angeles, and hope it offers a bridge to a shared history, and common purpose for the future.
Mike Davis writes with plain prose and snide wit, wearing his judgments on his sleeve as he lays down the facts. And the facts show a consistent chaotic struggle for power and control among wealthy elites, at the inevitable expense of blacks, latinos, native peoples, and the working poor. LA is the inorganic result of various cohorts of boosters "establishing," "founding," "remaking" the next vision of utopia that nevertheless turns out a bit bleaker and a bit cheaper than promised. Davis writes the city variously as the site of a Downtown v. Westside Gatsbyish social spat, an HOA-Nimby guerrilla war v. unending Global Development, a Catholic mission on the rim of the known world, a sparkling, power-washed deathtrap of anti-street-culture and hostile urbanism, and a bomb of racist abuse and neglect about to explode. He sees LA as a living omen of what's to come in cities nationwide, and was largely correct by my view (less than 2 years later, his bomb did go off in the citywide riots).
Each chapter takes a different historiographical lens to the picture, while often drawing connections and building on what he's already said. I did not expect the book to end on a 60-page essay on the city of Fontana, but by the time he told the story it made perfect sense as the conclusion. You hear all the time that LA has no history, no memory, and it's easy to see what they're saying. But uncovering some of that history we don't have offers so much explanation towards why we're here now, who made it this way, and who was left behind. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who has known or lived in some small, atomized, isolated island in the sprawl of Los Angeles, and hope it offers a bridge to a shared history, and common purpose for the future.
deadflagblues's review against another edition
5.0
Every person in Los Angeles should be given a copy of this in the mail. This book is a very detailed synopsis of Los Angeles history seen through a critical lens. There are a few chapters that should are timely in regard to policing and the community of Los Angeles. None of the history is sugar coated or given the "Hollywood treatment." It is one of the most eye-opening books I've read and really gives you the whole history of Los Angeles in every nitty gritty detail. This book is detailed in every topic it covers, sometimes its pretty dense in that regard, but no stone is left unturned. There is an entire chapter dedicated to the history of the power structures of the Catholic church in Los Angeles. While each chapter is a specific theme, the books does a great job of showing the connection and influence each part plays in the history of Los Angeles. Its critical theory meets history meets urban design. Mike does not hold an idealized version of LA and may come off more editorial than pure historical, but he brings detailed reciepts to every point he makes in the book. It is a commentary of power structures, Capitalism, racism, and failed public policy that is not unique to Los Angeles. But like its golden jewel Hollywood, its the mechanisms behind the scenes that are the reality, not the well manicured image of Utopia it strived so hard to become over the years. "It is both utopia and dystopia" and this book does a great job laying its complicated history for all to bear.
ptune's review against another edition
4.0
very long—interminably so during the entire chapter dedicated to Catholics, which I’m sure is essential to Davis’s own understanding of Los Angeles, but which I found really fucking boring. all that aside, Davis is a wide-ranging and wry observer of his material surroundings. as a life long Los Angeles skeptic I found a lot of protein to chew on here, but some of his vivid descriptions of the ever-present outsider culture of the city threatened to convert me. despite his excoriating critiques, he loved his city and the many unseen and underpaid workers that built it and continue to build it.
charliejackson's review against another edition
2.0
“The ultimate world-historical significance - and oddity - of Los Angeles is that is has come to play the double role of utopia and dystopia for advanced capitalism. The same place, as Brecht noted, symbolized both heaven and hell.”
ajkhn's review against another edition
5.0
Definitely a "don't make them like they used to" vibe here, with Mike Davis being a remarkably cantankerous mf throughout the 300+ pages. The scope and scale are weird, with Davis zooming in and out to talk about, you know, homeowners associations in the San Fernando Valley, Jewish country clubs, crummy strip malls in Fontana, to make his broader point about how freaking weird Los Angeles is.
So I guess there is something in it for everybody, which is great and all that. And it really gets to the fractal-ization of LA.
I'm still not totally convinced LA is sui generis, but maybe that's just me looking at it ~30 years on. City of Quartz is definitely A Book of Its Era, and not just because of the references to "the Japanese" etc. But to Davis' point, as the rest of the world is becoming more and more like LA of the '80s, its great to get a sense of what that means/meant. He does a fantastic job mapping power and identifying strains throughout the region. Even if it's out of date, the principles of the book are extremely, extremely, rewarding.
So I guess there is something in it for everybody, which is great and all that. And it really gets to the fractal-ization of LA.
I'm still not totally convinced LA is sui generis, but maybe that's just me looking at it ~30 years on. City of Quartz is definitely A Book of Its Era, and not just because of the references to "the Japanese" etc. But to Davis' point, as the rest of the world is becoming more and more like LA of the '80s, its great to get a sense of what that means/meant. He does a fantastic job mapping power and identifying strains throughout the region. Even if it's out of date, the principles of the book are extremely, extremely, rewarding.