A critical history of Los Angeles, the metropolis that best embodies the dual utopian and dystopian nature of advanced capitalism
In 1900, Los Angeles was a large town that emerged from nowhere in the middle of the Californian desert. Today, it is the third most important economic hub in the world after Tokyo and New York. No city has been more loved and hated at the same time. For its promoters, “L.A. has it all.” Indeed: sun, capital (a lot of capital), iconic architecture, multiculturalism and diversity, Bel Air, Hollywood, etc. But also crack, gangsta rap, racial violence, private police, massive homelessness, extreme inequality and greed. Los Angeles, between paradise and the postmodern dumping ground of the American dream.

Written in 1990 and revised in 2018, City of Quartz is an essential contemporary classic of urban sociology, in which Mike Davis reconstructs the dark history of Los Angeles and dissects the role and power games of its protagonists: the real estate development elites, the old dynasties that own the Los Angeles Times, the world of culture, the marginalized inhabitants of the suburbs, immigrants, the Church, the famous LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department), etc. A fascinating work in which we glimpse our own future reflected with terrifying clarity.