Main entry:

Davis, Mike, 1946-2022, author. aut http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut

Title & Author:

Dead cities, and other tales / Mike Davis ; with a new foreword by Rebecca Solnit.

Publication:

Chicago, IL : Haymarket Books, 2024.

Description:

xv, 432 pages illustrations 22 cm

Notes:
First published in 2002 by The New Press, New York.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Foreword -- Preface : Flames of New York -- Part I : Neon west -- 'White people are only a bad dream...' ; Ecocide in Marlboro Country ; Berlin's skeleton in Utah's closet ; Las Vegas versus nature ; Tsunami memories -- Part II : Holy ghosts -- Pentecostal earthquake ; Hollywood's dark shadow ; Infinite game ; Subway that ate L.A. ; New industrial peonage -- Part III : Riot city -- 'As bad as the H-bomb' ; Burning all illusions ; Who killed L.A.? A political autopsy ; Fear and loathing in Compton ; Dante's choice -- Part IV : Extreme science -- Cosmic dancers on history's stage? ; Dead cities : a natural history ; Strange times begin.

Summary:

"In these wide ranging, incisive, and hauntingly relevant essays, Davis asks us to consider what we would find if we put a microscope to the ruins of Metropolis, and provides a riveting account of the disasters--natural, man-made, and those (as in the case of climate calamity) where the distinction is impossible to make--that he finds on the other end. He begins his examination by sifting through the rubble of the twin towers in the wake of 9/11, presciently identifying the seeds of war already germinating in the scorched soil of ground zero, and closes by considering how little prepared our hollowed out urban infrastructure is to deal with shocks of any kind, be they from car bombs or ice storms. In between we are treated to tours of blasted wastelands where American generals built and destroyed replicas of Berlin, glimpses of Las Vegas's penchant for annihilating its own best-known landmarks, and other riveting tales of the dialectic between nature and the city. Dead Cities, written over twenty years ago, abounds with prophecies fulfilled, contains echoes of our current moment where conspiracies abound and anxieties drown out official celebrations of prosperity, and offers dreams of alternative paths not taken."--Amazon.com.

ISBN:

9798888902578 paperback
9798888903018 hardcover
electronic book
9798888902806

Subject:

Cities and towns United States Case studies.
Urban ecology (Sociology) United States Case studies.
Urban policy United States Case studies.
Social conflict United States Case studies.
Disasters United States Case studies.
Nature Effect of human beings on.
Villes États-Unis Études de cas.
Écologie urbaine États-Unis Études de cas.
Politique urbaine États-Unis Études de cas.
Catastrophes États-Unis Études de cas.
Êtres humains Influence sur la nature.

Form/genre:

Case studies.
Études de cas.

Added entries:

Solnit, Rebecca writer of foreword.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 321034
Call No.: 321034
Copy: 1
Status: Available