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chillcox15's review against another edition
5.0
I loved following Davis on this intellectually diverse dive into the various disasters waiting to befall southern California. The structure of the book is a little odd, moving systematically through various types of ecological disaster from big to small before jumping into literary/cinematic analysis for the last third of the book, but that organization also makes it easy to follow (and speed through certain chapters of lesser interest.) Odd looking back in 2023 to the meta-conversation about this book and how contentious it was when it came out, versus the sort-of accepted nature of many of the assertions here now, just based on our further understanding of climate change and the Marxist interpretations of capitalism's effect on it.
sbes114's review against another edition
happy new year! most disturbing book I’ve ever read
harris2132's review
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.0
Engaging read about the natural forces to which Southern California is subject and the hubris of the city planners in building a sprawling metro area in a place subject to so many natural "disasters."
megapolisomancy's review against another edition
4.0
Davis, I think, is the closest thing we have today to the early 20th century's crazed and bearded socialist ranting and handing out mimeographed broadsides on a street corner. In this book, perhaps the most apocalyptic of all his works (although, given the number of books he's written, maybe not, I don't know), he exposes the various ways that LA is, basically, an affront to nature that simply will not stand. And then, after tracing all the REAL ways that nature has tried to destroy LA (earthquakes, fire, tornadoes, mountain lions, bees, etc), he goes on to examine every book and movie he can find where a fictional destruction of the city is presented. And then, as if all that wasn't enough, he tells us about how the real development and future of LA is a much more depressing thing than the "dystopian" view of the future city presented in Blade Runner.
Of course, reading this more than halfway convinces you that:
a) There is no chance that the city will survive for any length of time... although it has certainly continued to do so in the 10+ years since this book was published (albeit with continuing wildfires and the nigh-total collapse of the state of California). Of course, Davis is just using this ecological apocalypticism to riff on the social/economic disasters of class inequality and American decadence and racial strife (speaking of which, I'm not entirely convinced by his argument that post-apocalyptic fiction is, at root, obsessed with race war, but more on that later).
b) LA is the most special, unique place in the world. I always thought that was NYC, didn't you?
Anyway as always with Davis, this is funny and depressing and insightful and makes an eloquent case for the world of capitalist modernity being DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED.
Of course, reading this more than halfway convinces you that:
a) There is no chance that the city will survive for any length of time... although it has certainly continued to do so in the 10+ years since this book was published (albeit with continuing wildfires and the nigh-total collapse of the state of California). Of course, Davis is just using this ecological apocalypticism to riff on the social/economic disasters of class inequality and American decadence and racial strife (speaking of which, I'm not entirely convinced by his argument that post-apocalyptic fiction is, at root, obsessed with race war, but more on that later).
b) LA is the most special, unique place in the world. I always thought that was NYC, didn't you?
Anyway as always with Davis, this is funny and depressing and insightful and makes an eloquent case for the world of capitalist modernity being DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED.
bog_elfin's review against another edition
4.0
I am not a southern Californian. I have never been to Los Angeles and don't plan to go. However, I find the intersections of nature and culture fascinating, and this book has aged remarkably well in the 20 years since its publication. Davis' writing kept me engaged and made me care about the past and future of a place far from my daily life.
chuckmunson's review against another edition
5.0
A classic book of social criticism about a major American city: Los Angeles.