Read Online Ecology of Fear Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster edition by Mike Davis Politics Social Sciences eBooks

Product details Print Length 496 pages Publisher Verso; Reprint edition (March 10, 2020) Publication Date March 10, 2020 Language English ASIN B075HZD9D9

Ecology of Fear Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster edition by Mike Davis Politics Social Sciences eBooks Reviews

• This is a very, very fine book that looks at the archetype of Modern America, Los Angles and Southern California. Looking at the interaction of population growth, individualism (greed!), urban growth without planning, and the nature of the environment, this book shows how we are unwilling to acknowledge the normalcy of earthquakes, fires, tornadoes, and wild animal encounters. It is extremely well-written and researched -- and hard to put down! It is social criticism that is "grounded", literally.
• as a native angelino i thought i knew my city well....i was so wrong! davis brings to light an amazing history of this city!
• gives you new perspective of LA
• Great quality. Fast shipping.
• Facinating followup to "City of Quartz"
• I wouldn't say it was a great book but I had to read it for school and the library and Barnes & Noble were out of stock. Somewhat interesting. The price was extremely affordable and arrived quickly.
• It wasn't as new as I thought it would be because I can see markings on the edges of the book.
• It's too bad Mike Davis settled for this book. After reading his first book, City of Quartz, I expected more. Ecology of Fears lacks the energy of City of Quartz, the writing style becomes more erratic, and the subject matter is nowhere near as compelling.
  The events that took place in Southern California in the 1990's would have fit perfectly in Davis's world view that Los Angeles is a city fated by the gods to die an early and tragic death. Anyone who lived in Los Angeles through the 1990's knows that this was a dynamic period of big events and major changes - for good and bad. This decade deserves a good book worthy of its tumult and transformation. Ecology of Fear is not that book.
  Unfortunately, what he produced ventured frequently into the bizarre and byzantine, and if the Los Angeles Times is to be believed, downright falsehoods. The book's basic premise was that Los Angeles is a land fraught with Mother Nature's castatrophies that has been misrepresented to the masses as an earthly paradise. To support his point, we get a chapter on Southland tornadoes, a chapter on man eating mountain lions living in the hills, and then a chapter on apartment fires of the 20th Century. Don't forget the chapter on L.A.'s propensity to flood where he repeats all the cliches about the Los Angeles River. Honestly, as an Angeleno, these are the last things I'm going to worry about (earthquakes, to which he also devotes a chapter, are another matter). It was as if Davis was trying to will his fantasies about the destruction of L.A. into existence through this book.
  Now for the positive things about this book. The chapter on the destruction of the environment and the neglect of building an adequate park system is very good. This is surely one of the tragedies of Los Angeles. His chapter on the Los Angeles riots is excellent, and he has a section on Mayor James Hahn, who was then City Attorney, which was enlightening.
  This is a good book to skim. Many of his statements have been proven to be false, and who really wants to read 50+ pages about the danger of tornadoes in Los Angeles? Davis could have done better than this.