Los Angeles Urban Processes: The Tension Among Myths, High Expectations, and Minimal Satisfaction

Abstract

In this article, the author gives comments and overviews on four books about Los Angeles, California.

California has had more than its fair share of problems in the past few years. To begin with, numerous defense-related industries located in and around Los Angeles closed or contracted, thereby increasing unemployment; then, as a reaction to the jury's decision in the trial of the white police officers accused of beating Rodney King, LA was hit with its third worst civil conflict since the Zoot suit and Watts riots. To add insult to injury. another earthquake hit the state, then a series of forest fires, and Pete Wilson, California's former governor, initially refused to sign the state's budget, accelerating the state's tumbling credit rating. And, most recently, the region experienced another earthquake, forcing President Clinton to declare the City of Angeles a disaster area.

When the contemporary history of Los Angeles and California is written, three periods might be identified: the Pre Watts (1965) riot era; the time-span between the 1965 Watts riot and the 1992 Rodney King riot; and the post riot period (already a couple of books on the causes and impact of the King riot have been published). These four books, two of which are sole-authored and two edited collections, published relatively recently, all written before the riots, would fall under the tail end of the second time period. If there is any consensus among these books, it is that they present a picture whereby capitalists, with local government encouragement, developed and promoted a series of myths about Los Angeles. This has created high expectations which are minimally satisfied. When these promises are unfulfilled, Los Angelenos resort to escapism. However, before reviewing these issues, I will place the books in context by providing a brief overview of each of them.

Keywords: Los Angeles, California, book reviews, U.S. cities, crime, riots, civil disturbances, social conflict, power, book overviews, police, social histories, minorities, organized crime, cultural diversity, ethnic diversity, illegal aliens, undocumented workers

JEL Classification: H70, H77, H79, H89, I31, J19, J71, J78, K14, K29, K39, K49