Los Angeles. Miasto-państwo w siedmiu lekcjach

by Rosecrans Baldwin, Filip Łobodziński (Translator)

"LA w ogóle nie jest jak miasto, za bardzo się rozciąga" – mówi jedna z rozmówczyń Baldwina. Bo jak nazwać największy amerykański organizm polityczny niebędący stanem? Los Angeles to liczące osiemdziesiąt osiem miast "państwo narodowe" zamieszkiwane przez około jedenaście milionów ludzi mówiących w niemal dwustu językach. Czy LA można w ogóle zdefiniować?

Rosecrans Baldwin przez kilka lat pracował nad książką, w której stara się odpowiedzieć na pytanie urbanisty Douglasa Suismana: "Czy miasto może być miastem, wcale nim nie będąc?". Odnosząc się zarówno do literatury, jak i własnych obserwacji i rozmów, rozwija koncepcję Los Angeles jako miasta-państwa, zestawiając Miasto Aniołów z antycznymi megalopolis.

Los Angeles to także znakomity reportaż o przestrzeni kontrastów, gdzie sąsiadują ze sobą centra ubóstwa i zamożne zamknięte osiedla, bezdomni i celebryci, apokaliptyczne pogorzeliska i bajeczne plaże, przeludnienie i samotność. Dzięki siedmiu lekcjom Baldwina możemy choć trochę zrozumieć miasto, które każdego dnia wymyśla siebie na nowo.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Essays, Urbanism, The United States Of America, Audiobook, Cities

264 pages, Hardcover

First published June 15, 2021

About the author

Rosecrans Baldwin is the bestselling author of Everything Now, winner of the California Book Award. Other books include The Last Kid Left and Paris, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down. His debut novel, You Lost Me There, was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice.

Reviews

[Antigone · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are people who are troubled by Los Angeles. Some are idealists, some activists, some have a tendency to swing, however slowly, into a bleak range of being (a trait not so easily transformed into that profitable jade in outlook as it is on the East Coast). These are the people you will find occupying their minds with the city's homelessness, its poverty, its crime; the fires, the earthquakes, the drought, the pollution; its prisons, its corruption, its loneliness; its myriad varieties of inequity. Indisputable truths, to be sure, but not the sum total of what composes the experience of L.A.

Still, we're living in a time, I find, when we're prone to see only what encourages our despair. As if to witness a single source of enrichment, balance, tranquility, or fairness is somehow a betrayal of humanity; proof of a weak mind and a coward's flight into distraction. When did it become wrong to point to something right? To say, "There it is! See, that's what you aim for." Or is there only injury now, and a thousand manuals designed to teach us how to properly bleed?

I don't know.

This is a clever and well-written book about all the sad parts of my city. Now I must set out to find the one that makes it so terribly easy to understand why I live here.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book because I love everything about my native city, Los Angeles. I first saw this in Skylight books on Vermonth Avenue (formerly Chatterton's) and I almost bought it--I read it from the library instead. Some of the statements about Los Angeles are on point including characterizing it as a city state but honestly so much of it is just from an outsider who really doesn't understand how the city ticks. The emphasis in the beginning on the self-help cult almost made me stop reading the book. That is such a cliche--every east coast writer who comes to Los Angeles believes it can be explained by emphasizing the kooks who populate it. I'm glad I read this but it was just too smart and cocky for me. Give me Joan Didion or Reynor Banham any day--Baldwin is not in their league though clearly he is trying to be.

[Liam Oznowich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Way too ambitious for its own good. Its central thesis, that Los Angeles is a city-state, is both too simplistic and too specific – too simplistic in that you could justify a 1000-page doorstopper on the entire topic, but too specific in that nothing really quite fits the mark to prove the point conclusively. I get what Baldwin is going for, but this book would've been more successful for me if he didn't try so hard (especially when he constantly called Los Angeles "the city-state" without, in my opinion, ever actually proving it) to unify everything under such an unwieldy central point. Furthermore, this book is jam-packed with research and evidence, some sources more successful than others. I wish that he would've gone into more detail on some very interesting sources and excised others that weren't as compelling.

That being said, on an individual chapter level, I enjoyed much of this. The second essay's deep dive into self-improvement cults in LA was fascinating. It's clear that Baldwin is a great reporter. The people he interviewed were, in his rendering of them, complex, flawed, and engaging to read about. Like my point above, I wish that he would've dwelled with them longer instead of frequently diverging into a mosaic of interrelated (but ultimately too scattered) points. Certain sections of this book, especially the parts about Skid Row, felt very "true" to living in Los Angeles in real time. So, on an emotional level, this book was successful - not as a whole, but when separated into parts.

Lastly, the chapter about Hollywood was funny for someone, like me, who's worked as an assistant in Hollywood. That was the most stereotypical and sensationalized chapter for me; his portrayal of Hollywood played up the oddball nature of the industry and downplayed how monotonous and corporate it really is. I wanted to see more of the Hollywood that I know - one that is not most memorably populated by executives, but in the shadows by their (overworked, abused) assistants. Also, Baldwin and his wife are a screenwriting team and he describes some of the meetings he's been set up on, which sound sketchy at best - he needs better representation...

[Richard Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like to read books about my city, Los Angeles. I am at home in fiction that takes place in locations that I know or that captures the spirit of the city where I have lived for forty years. Non-fiction accounts that look at the unique features of my city also pull me in.

This book was promising at the beginning. I liked the idea of Los Angeles as a city-state, though because the metaphor is imperfect, it wore thin by the middle of the book, and I liked the opening theme of the city as a place of great diversity with many islands of distinct culture and personality woven together into the megalopolis.

But then the book descended into an extended discussion of all of the bad things about my city that you don't have to live here to know about - the personal isolation that causes some people to be unconnected and depressed and to reach out to cultish organizations, the homelessness, the racism, the poverty, the income disparity, the bad sides of the entertainment business and the well-known natural hazards of fires, mudslides and earthquakes. It's not that Mr. Baldwin hates the place or that he sees it as an embodiment of evil. Nor is he a reformer with programs for fixing the many problems that the city admittedly has. He's just Debbie Downer, focusing only on the bad things and almost completely ignoring the good. He talks a little about the fascinating cultural diversity, but says almost nothing about the natural beauty, the weather, the arts, the food or the spirit of innovation and sense of being on the cutting edge that persists here.

I don't think that Mr. Baldwin could have written this book if he didn't in some ways love LA, but his way of expressing his passion for the city is decidedly negative.

[stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

i'm dedicating this review to the dickhead bookstore owner who wouldn't let me buy this book from him (literally at the register was like "i'm not selling this book to you go find another one") because it "isn't an accurate depiction of los angeles and is a bad book in general". of course a white man indie bookstore owner from echo park would say that. u are so pretentious and annoying and i hope you enjoy owning a business in an earthquake liquefaction zone (i did look it up).

ANYWAYS
solid 3.5 star book that i'm bumping up to 4 out of spite. definitely covers a lot of interesting communities and qualities of LA but certainly not exhaustive. the strongest parts are the stories about people. i thought that the more nonfiction-y facts and analysis parts were underbaked and an appendix or more citations were needed. i also thought that the author often started on a really interesting idea but then pivoted away way too quickly and didn't elaborate on things that i wanted to know more about. i also thought that the use of quotes was weird in that i'd be reading his own writing and then suddenly the next paragraph would just be a quote with mild relation to the topic. also could do without the bible verses.

was very cool to read about things in this city that i was actually here to experience!! feels good feels organic.

also loved the metaphor about LA as nets and slipping through the holes of various systems because it was related to my senior thesis, but i called the holes the Leftovers and it was more about physical leftover spaces. anyways! so cool!

[Miku · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nie będę ukrywać, że moim największym marzeniem jest podróż po Ameryce. Natomiast jak na razie muszę zejść na ziemię i zafundować sobie inną, trochę tańszą podróż przy pomocy serii amerykańskiej. Tym razem wybrałam się do Los Angeles, ogromnej metropolii, gdzie zderza się tak wiele kultur, że to się w głowie nie mieści.

Niestety ten reportaż to spory zawód, bo zawartość nie jest ani trochę ciekawa. Na początku autor stawia sobie, żeby jakkolwiek odpowiedzieć na pytanie "Czy miasto może być miastem równocześnie nim nie będąc?", a potem zostajemy wrzuceni w rozdziały, które nie do końca rozumiem jaki miały mieć cel. Przykładowo w pierwszym poczytamy sobie o „tre­nin­gu” zor­ga­ni­zo­wa­nym przez Mi­strzow­skie Warsz­ta­ty Trans­for­ma­cyj­ne, który ma odmienić życie uczestników, ale nawet z małą wiedzą można wyczuć sektę na kilometr. Oczywiście o samej przeszłości i działalności założycieli też co nieco się dowiemy. Kolejne rozdziały były na podobnym poziomie, zaczepiając o problem bezdomności, narkomanii, migracji, katastrof naturalnych jak pożary czy ruch płyt tektonicznych co powoduje trzęsienia ziemi, ale żaden z tych rozdziałów tak naprawdę nie wybił się w moim odczuciu. Poczucie, że czytam o czymś co mnie bardzo średnio interesuje zostało ze mną do samego końca książki. Może to dlatego, że wyżej przedstawione problemy zostały wymieszane z fragmentami typowo zapychającymi zamiast pisać dosadnie i bezpośrednio. Oczywiście to nie jest tak, że ta pozycja koniec końców nic nie wnosi. Między tymi fragmentami pojawiają się ciekawe informacje dotyczące tego regionu, kultury, ludzi, najbardziej palących problemów, języków jakimi się posługują, ale to czytelnik musi sobie wziąć sitko, a potem odsiać te bryłki złota od całej reszty.

Liczyłam na dużo, dużo więcej. Także zostawiam 1,5 gwiazdki.

[Hanna Barlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating changed section to section, with some parts feeling like every paragraph needed to be underlined/highlighted and others feeling lacking. Overall, I liked the wide view he gave to Los Angeles, not over weighing certain components over others, recognizing its ugliest parts while finding its more intricate beauty and pockets. Very comforting read as the city struggles at the current moment. I never disagreed with his assessment, although maybe a thesis like “la is everything and nothing” protects you from disagreement through its ambiguity. Homelessness chapter really moved me.

[Lydia Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't stop thinking about this book—a captivating read that captures everything I love and hate about Los Angeles. In fact I may love and hate Los Angeles even more after reading. I was hooked from beginning to end. I don't usually read nonfiction, but I loved the author's novel "The Last Kid Left", so I gave it chance and I'm so glad I did. I'm recommending it to all my Los Angeles friends so I can have people to discuss it with.

[Scott Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not that the insights aren't generally correct (they are) or that I doubt the depth of the author's understanding of the city (I don't). The bookseller who sold this to me said it was "like Mike Davis, but hilarious" and it's certainly in the same vein of LA writing as Davis, from the same school of thought, at least. Nor do I doubt the author's dry wit, either, it's just...I didn't find anything new in this book. Maybe I've read too many books about LA before. Maybe it's just a worn road - like Mulholland (I kid! I'm a kidder!). It's just that the "new" revelations felt kind of obvious and well-tread.

Also, jeez, I get it you that put "City-State" in the title, and the thesis of the first essay is that it's the proper term for LA, but after you call the city that for the 600th time it a) feels like it loses meaning b) the text reads more like you just couldn't find a good thesaurus, and c) like you're really trying to make "fetch" happen. Mostly the latter.

[Chris Molnar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Previously published light reportage mixed with rather empty observations and interviews. None of the boasts or mock-horror about the city seem unique. The author’s lack of any particular insight or perspective is made uncomfortably clear by the diffusion and disconnectedness of the topics (like, say, Jia Tolentino, although there is a bit exposing human traffickers much like Jia’s parents, so he’s got that one up on her!) Book is quite handsomely packaged by Rodrigo Corral. May actually represent LA quite well.

[Shana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rosecrans has read and namechecks and references a lot of great books on LA, interviewed people with interesting stories.. But this is an outsider's compilation, not a grounded urban theory of the city-state, nor an insider's insightful guidebook. A whole chapter on Montecito's mudslide shows misguided notion of the scope of the "cityscape". A bunch of essays in search of a thesis.

[Virginia Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Observations and commentary on some of the defining aspects of Los Angeles: dreams of Hollywood, natural disasters, self-help gurus and mystics, inequality. Yes, it's all true, and I still love this city.

[Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting anecdotes throughout, but the tone is bleak and I was hoping for more of an argument or narrative thread through the sections; it's all a bit disjointed and I think it's a copout to say, "so is LA."

[Sashenka Bender · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does this book make me look smart? Was it enjoyable?

[Daniela - The Flare D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nessun altro libro - ad oggi - racconta meglio cosa è Los Angeles.
Chi ci vive, chi vi si trasferisce, chi la subisce, chi la ama, chi la detesta, chi entrambe le cose, chi vorrebbe lasciarla e non lo fa.

L’autore Rosecrans Baldwin affronta un tessuto sociale, culturale, politico fitto e pieno di contrasti ed estremi al tempo stesso, descrivendo Los Angeles come città-stato, come realtà a sè, un concetto molto più complesso da immaginare prima che da comprendere.
Los Angeles è un mondo, non un semplice agglomerato urbano di milioni di persone: è un sistema di lusso e miseria, di affari immobiliari e di persone che non hanno (quasi) nessun posto dove stare.
È la città-stato dei sogni, di ciò che ti trascina oltre, è un luogo che non insegna a essere comunità ma dove le persone, al tempo stesso, sono capaci di esserlo, all’occorrenza.
Il tutto incorniciato tra le montagne, il deserto e l’oceano, da un ambiente naturale che non fa sconti sulla crisi climatica, che sfida le persone sulla consapevolezza di vivere in un luogo geografico soggetto a incendi, allagamenti e terremoti, incluso lo spettro del Big One.
E quella luce che dice che Los Angeles la si deve vedere.

Il libro è ricco di preziosi riferimenti e citazioni bibliografiche, un racconto di storie diverse, accurato, ricercato, unico.

[rav · Rating 2 out of 5]

maybe i'm too much of a didion stan but it felt like a very distant, east-coast, pedantic perspective of la. he kept repeating the concept of la being a city-state and diving into these disparate rabbit holes that I didn't find compelling honestly. way too much left unsaid and untouched...had higher expectations. don't be fooled by the cool looking cover!!!!!! (i was)

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’d read a 500 page version of this book. Made me miss LA and deepen my love for it and at the same time regret missing it because of some of the things outlined.

[Shasun Sulur · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so chaotic, beautiful, slightly mundane at parts, and filled with pockets of empty space… but how else would you write a book about LA? This book is organized by themes, each with a series of arguments made about LA broken down into points and sub points. These points ranged anywhere from interviews with Angelinos and excerpts from from famous authors about the city, to bible quotes.

I found some of these arguments pretty salient… like that Los Angeles is more of a city-state than a city with its unique social political and cultural identity, and the impact of borders, immigration, and the idea of “who belongs” in a city at the western edge of “manifest destiny”.

Some parts of the book drag on forever like the author describing his experience joining a cult in LA, where he then attempted to connect cult culture to something that is intrinsically Los Angeles… or when talking about temporality in the city, he tries to make the argument that time isn’t linear in the city, but rather that “the past, present, and future are occurring simultaneously” (it seems like the same can be said in any place).

The most powerful parts of the book were the deep interviews he had with Angelinos, who, despite the sprawl and borders and economic inequality created by the “haves” and forced on the “have nots” had created community, taken space for themselves, helped others along the way. It’s the idea that in a large, fragmented city where freeways are out public realm instead of parks and squares, there is more that connects us and brings us together and allows people to call Los Angeles their home, than what first meets the eye.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

enjoyed! sort of a collage of thoughts on the city(-state). had some good sections and some meh parts but overall was solid. it is funny the conceptions of LA that live in the American/global conscious.

“Why do I make excellent workable plans, and then not carry them out. Why do I seem so perversely out to get myself?”

“But why was a feeling of “home” something I had lucked into, that others were forced to earn?”

“We know we live in LA but we also know we don’t live in Los Angeles”

“All his life, a feeling of home had been a habit something deep inside that came out each day”

“It takes heroic effort to prioritize anything over proximity here… be a person who is worth the trip and [find] people who are worth the trip” Merritt Tierce

[Justyna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Hasan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really had high hopes for this book. Though I'm not a native Angelo, I spent over five years living in Los Angeles during my late 20s and early 30s and thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Like most Angelinos, my experience of L.A. was confined to where I lived and worked with the odd common area experiences of touristy parts like Hollywood, Santa Monica, LAX etc.

Hence I expected to read about a somewhat similar experience in this book. Instead, the first 25% of this book is stuck talking about some random cult, which is boring, annoying and totally irrelevant to the experience of living in Los Angeles. So off the bat, I wasn't going to rate it higher than four stars. But the book didn't even meet that criteria. Though some parts were interesting, familiar and enlightening, a lot of the book delved into random parts and recency bias. Where was the Carmageddon experience of the early 2010s? Where was the Rodney King riots through the prism of Angelinos? Where was the local reporting about previous Democratic looking at L.A. as a fundraising machine? What about the massive Asian population and cultural influence?

The book had so much potential and didn't live up to half of it.

[Brenden Gallagher · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book manages to hit all of my pet peeves when it comes to essay collections. Too many quotes from other texts. Too short chapters that feel incomplete. A thesis that is so vague that you feel like most of the pieces were spiked journalism efforts that led to kill fees. A self-conscious white progressivism that leads to constant mentions of privilege and too many asides about writing from Tongva Land while we are treated to the knowledge that the author is writing from a “borrowed house with a swimming pool,” until recently he lived in France, he is pitching scripts with the actress he profiles for one of the chapters (ethics much), and he is named for a relative who Rosecrans Boulevard is also named after.

Pretentious yet shallow, pompous yet superficial, scattered yet self-indulgent, this is among the worst attempts at explaining Los Angeles I’ve ever read.

[Rick B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding ...simply outstanding! I find it hard to believe that this incredible work of art has an average rating anywhere below 5. How is that possible? My only theory is that people don't like reading the truth...they prefer the glossy chamber of commerce image instead of reality.

Los Angeles is so many things - so many good and too many bad, but those are the elements that make it so unique in the American landscape. For richer, for poorer; for better or for worse; in sickness and in health, this Pacific Coast dynamo is and shall foreseeably be the epitome of the American dream...past and present in all its bravado and all its failings.

Read this book!

[Neil Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really thoughtful, entertaining, fair-minded look at Los Angeles and its importance in understanding where we are all headed in the next few decades; not just LA, but also the rest of the states. His focus on how this "city state" has failed its population with housing stability, education, and inequality was especially illuminating. I don't want to make it sound like a slog, however, as it's nimbly written. My one critique is that it could have been longer--I basically put it down in a day and wouldn't have minded having more time with it.

[Karenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating exploration of Los Angeles culture and its implications for American society. Topics covered run the gamut from wildfires and homelessness to occultism and celebrity. I also admire how Baldwin uses scholarship and literature to emphasize and illuminate his musings. Organized in short, numbered chunks, the text’s readability makes it a great choice for a variety of readers and reading situations (such as commuting, vacationing, or instructing).

[Aga · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3,5

- o czym jest książka-

Książka Rosecranza Baldwina to reportaż o słynnym mieście aniołów – kontrastów, problemów, szaleństw.
Ryzykując przewrotną tezę, że LA jest państwem-miastem, zupełnie innym i wyjątkowym wobec wszystkich znanych nam tworów cywilizacji, autor próbuje zarysować szczegółowy i szokujący obraz tej wyjątkowej społeczności.

- co w niej znajdziecie-
Od problemów segregacji rasowej po nieuchronne zagrożenia ze strony uskoku San Antonio, narracja prowadzi nas przez najbardziej jaskrawe dla autora elementy życia w LA. Przekaz bazuje przede wszystkim na rozmowach z mieszkańcami, ponadto również na wyrywkach historii i dzieł kultury oraz przeżyciach własnych.

+ ciekawi rozmówcy
+ ważne społecznie kwestie – nie tylko dla LA
- brak mapy, która znacznie ułatwiłaby zrozumienie opisywanych okolic i zależności
- nierówna, początkowo bardzo chaotyczna narracja
- zdarzają się wnioski niepoparte danymi/researchem
- część tematów nie została szerzej rozwinięta

W recenzjach pojawiają się zarzuty, że książka napisana została przez outsidera, który nie rozumie „ducha miasta”. Być może faktycznie autor pominął kwestie, które dla długoletnich mieszkańców są ważniejsze czy oczywiste. Jednak mieszkał on przez jakiś czas w LA, a w mojej ocenie jego dosyć świeże spojrzenie może sprawiać, że książka jest bardziej obiektywna.

-ogólna ocena-
Do gustu przypadło mi tylko kilka rozdziałów z całości i – w ogólności – rozczarowałam się tym tytułem. Kilka-kilkanaście ciekawych wycinków dla mnie nie przeważyło o całości. Duża część nie wykazuje związku z Los Angeles (a przynajmniej autor takiego nie podkreślał, poza tym, że ludzie o tym opowiadający byli w jakiś sposób związani z LA, a w mojej ocenie opisy danych zjawisk nie dotyczyły wyłącznie tego miasta), a analogii do miast-państw jest jak na lekarstwo (sam autor zaś – przewrotnie – już w pierwszym rozdziale stwierdza, że LA jest miastem-panstwem tylko metaforycznie).
Ponadto, narracja w pierwszej części książki jest dosyć chaotyczna – bardziej przypomina luźne przemyślenia czy wstępne notatki niż poukładaną opowieść – i autor prowadzi czytelnika bardziej emocjami, niż faktami. Bardzo mi to przeszkadzało, ponieważ uważam, że dobry reportaż powinien być logicznie ustrukturyzowany; skupiać się przede wszystkim na faktach i za ich pomocą wciągać czytelnika.

[Gali · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dla mnie literatura non-fiction musi być budowana na głosach ludzi. Nikt nie opowie ich historii tak jak oni sami. W tej pozycji autor rzadko wychodzi do bohaterów. Nie mówię, że nigdy, ale przyjmuje raczej pozycję obserwatora, czego wyjątkowo nie lubię.

Szczególnie zdenerwował mnie fragment, w którym autor przechadza się po dzielnicy biedy i zamiast porozmawiać z osobami, które tam mieszkają, opisuje ich z zewnętrznej perspektywy. Ma przewodniczkę, która tam mieszkała, a obecnie pracuje w organizacji pomocowej dla mieszkańców, ale nie da się nie zauważyć, że jej autor nie postrzega jako "niebezpiecznej", w przeciwieństwie do bezdomnych. Dla mnie reporter nie powinien się bać osób z tzw. "marginesu".

Objętość tej książki spokojnie w 1/3 (szacując) zajmują cytaty albo obszerniejsze fragmenty z innych książek, które przeważnie dotyczą LA, ale też nie zawsze, co wydaje mi się szczególnie dziwnym zabiegiem. Wypada pseudo intelektualnie, szczególnie wersety z Biblii wklejone jakby bez korekty.

Sporo fragmentów za bardzo nie dotyczy LA, albo dotyczy luźno, np. historia jednej aktorki, od zera do gwiazdorki, to są dla mnie takie zapychacze.

Byłam bardzo podekscytowana i ta książka ma jakieś tam mocniejsze momenty, ale bez szału. Nie polecam.

[Melanie H · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those ready to dig deep into their love-hate relationship with L.A., here’s a book for you. Although, I can’t imagine this read is of any interest to those who have never resided in Southern California or have ever dreamed of doing so.

I loathed the liberties Baldwin took with local, fictional hero Henry Chinaski and couldn’t help but notice his take down of the cultish self-help culture missed the biggest one of all, Scientology.

Not to be all negative, Baldwin tackled the endemic problem of homelessness that’s only getting worse with more heart and originality than I was expecting. It’s the hiding in plain sight issue that most of the country probably has no idea plagues the land of celebrities.

One final thought that continues to linger in my mind ... Baldwin captures the malaise and loneliness of living in empty apartments amid the glorious sunshine. But I can’t help but think this is merely the experience of the privileged few and what remains of the lingering middle class. What of the Latin American and South Asian refugees and immigrants who also make So Cal their home? What of their experience?

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I ended up liking this book on LA History more than I thought I would... at first I thought, "how absurd is it for a guy who moved here in 2014 to write a book about LA?!" But, considering the city is constantly receiving newcomers to the point that is a significant portion of the population is a transplant, perhaps it is useful to include him in the overall discourse.
He interviewed and spoke with Mike Davis quite a bit, as evidenced by several quotes from their conversations, so he clearly did his research. And I liked how he immersed himself in so many different communities and experiences all over Greater LA.
I found it to be an easy read, which is good because even the best history books can get dry at times. I was especially hooked by the stories about MITT (definitely had some friends try to rope me into that cult a decade or so ago). I really appreciated how much time he spent on income inequality, homelessness and the fact that we keep subsidizing rich people rebuilding homes in disaster-prone areas.

[Sammi Wallschlaeger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a 3.5 star book for me. I liked it. It’s about the different characters who exist in Los Angeles and the qualities etc LA is known for (vanity, fitness, earthquakes, celebrities, wildfires, cults, housing crises, gentrification and more). There are some fun chapters, like the one that follows a struggling actor and the one about a cult-like self help program which may actually be a pyramid scheme. I love all things LA history and scandal, but the book felt unfocused and most chapters were surface level. If there were less topics overall, maybe the writer could go a little deeper on a few things. It’s just very broad.