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University of California Press

About the Book

Here with a new preface, a new foreword, and an updated bibliography is the definitive history of Los Angeles from its beginnings as an agricultural village of fewer than 2,000 people to its emergence as a metropolis of more than 2 million in 1930—a city whose distinctive structure, character, and culture foreshadowed much of the development of urban America after World War II.

About the Author

Robert M. Fogelson is Professor of Urban Studies and History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part One: Los Angeles, 1850-1930
1 From Pueblo to Town
2 Private Enterprise, Public Authority, and Urban
Expansion
3 The Rivalry between Los Angeles and San Diego
4 The Great Migration
5 Transportation, Water, and Real Estate
6 Commercial and Industrial Progress

Part Two: The Fragmented Metropolis
7 The Urban Landscape
8 The Failure of the Electric Railways
9 The Quest for Community
10 The Politics of Progressivism
11 The Municipal Ownership Movement
12 City and Regional Planning
Conclusion: "The Simple Life"

Bibliography
Notes
Index

Reviews

"The most detailed study ever published of Los Angeles' most critical period. . . . An invaluable aid to my understanding of this city."—David Brodsly, author of L.A. Freeway