City of Quartz

No metropolis has been more loved or more hated. To its official boosters, "Los Angeles brings it all together." To detractors, LA is a sunlit mortuary where "you can rot without feeling it." To Mike Davis, the author of this fiercely elegant and wide-ranging work of social history, Los Angeles is both utopia and dystopia, a place where the last Joshua trees are being plowed under to make room for model communities in the desert, where the rich have hired their own police to fend off street gangs, as well as armed Beirut militias. In "City of Quartz", Davis reconstructs LA's shadow history and dissects its ethereal economy. He tells us who has the power and how they hold on to it. He gives us a city of Dickensian extremes, Pynchonesque conspiracies, and a desperation straight out of Nathaniel West-a city in which we may glimpse our own future, mirrored with terrifying clarity. In this special 15-year anniversary edition, Davis provides a dazzling update on the city's current status.

ISBN 1844675688   Pages 480 ISBN13 9781844675685 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Verso Books   Weight (grammes) 485 Imprint Verso Books   Published in London Format Paperback   Previous ISBN 9780860913030 Publication date 21 Aug 2006   Height (mm) 210 Photographer Morrow, Robert   Width (mm) 140 Library of Congress HN80.L7 D3   Spine width (mm) 33 DEWEY 979.494   Academic level Undergraduate DEWEY edition DC22

"An extraordinary book- tumultuous and brilliant." - Jonathan Kozol "A history as fascinating as it is instructive." - Peter Ackroyd, The Times

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Version	Price	Published	Edition
Paperback	£16.99	1998	New edition
Hardback	£20.00	1990
Paperback	£8.99	1992	New edition