City of Quartz

by Mike Davis

Dennis McDougal says: This looks at all of Southern California’s issues, including water, and weaves them into a road map for the 21st century, with lots of warning signs.

Jeremy Till says: I found City of Quartz when I went to Los Angeles for first time. In its angry and political way, it describes how cities arise out of an incredibly complex and difficult set of uncontrollable forces. When I first arrived in Los Angles, before I read the book, I was completely and utterly bamboozled by the place. I was just thinking what the hell is going on here? I picked up a copy of City of Quartz, which had just come out, and read it all in one session. It made sense of things; why the railways have gone and why freeways had proliferated for example.