Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster

[Dave Monroe]

Ecology of Fear
Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster
Written by Mike Davis

Format: Trade Paperback, 496 pages
On Sale: September 7, 1999
Price: $15.95
ISBN: 978-0-375-70607-3 (0-375-70607-0)


Earthquakes. Wildfires. Floods. Drought. Tornadoes. Snakes in the sea,
mountain lions, and a plague of bees. In this controversial tour de
force of scholarship, unsparing vision, and inspired writing, Mike
Davis, the author of City of Quartz, revisits Los Angeles as a Book of
the Apocalypse theme park. By brilliantly juxtaposing L.A.'s fragile
natural ecology with its disastrous environmental and social history,
he compellingly shows a city deliberately put in harm's way by land
developers, builders, and politicians, even as the incalculable toll
of inevitable future catas-trophe continues to accumulate.

Counterpointing L.A.'s central role in America's fantasy life--the
city has been destroyed no less than 138 times in novels and films
since 1909--with its wanton denial of its own real history, Davis
creates a revelatory kaleidoscope of American fact, imagery, and
sensibility.  Drawing upon a vast array of sources, Ecology of Fear
meticulously captures the nation's violent malaise and desperate
social unease at the millennial end of "the American century."  With
savagely entertaining wit and compassionate rage, this book conducts a
devastating reconnaissance of our all-too-likely urban future.

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375706073