This book studies Los Angeles County and its government since World War II. A special focus is given to the "Titans of Temple Street," the five-member Board of Supervisors that determines policies and actions for many issues throughout the county, especially for residents who do not live in the county's 88 cities. It is the largest of all U.S. counties, with a population of more than 10 million, more residents than 41 states, and an annual budget of more than $44 billion, more than all but...

Los Angeles came of age in the 1920s. The great boom of that decade gave shape to the L.A. of today: its vast suburban sprawl and reliance on the automobile, its prominence as a financial and industrial center, and the rise of Hollywood as the film capital of the world. This collection of original essays explores the making of the Los Angeles metropolis during this remarkable decade. The authors examine the city's racial, political, cultural, and industrial dynamics, making this volume an ...

Public Los Angeles is a collection of unpublished essays by scholar Don Parson focusing on little-known characters and histories located in the first half of twentieth-century Los Angeles. An infamously private city in the eyes of outside observers, structured around single-family homes and an aggressively competitive regional economy, Los Angeles has often been celebrated or caricatured as the epitome of an American society bent on individualism, entrepreneurialism, and market in...

**The definitive biography of Everett Ruess, the artist, writer, and eloquent celebrator of the wilderness whose bold solo explorations of the American West and mysterious disappearance in the Utah desert at age twenty have earned him a large and devoted cult following.“Easily one of [Roberts’s] best . . . thoughtful and passionate . . . a compelling portrait of the Ruess myth.”—Outside**Wandering alone with burros and pack horses through California and the Southwe...

A lively history of the nineteenth-century American West from the #1 New York Times –bestselling author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee ."Glorious . . . Do not miss a page." — Rocky Mountain NewsFrontier life, Dee Brown writes, "was hard, unpleasant most of the time," and "lacking in almost all amenities or creature comforts." ...

The true story of a mysterious shipwreck during the Klondike gold rush.In early February 1898, witnesses reported a giant orange fireball reflected in the glacial waters of Alaska's Lynn Canal. At the height of Klondike gold fever, the Clara Nevada disappeared into an epic storm, taking passengers and priceless cargo with her.Was the explosion an accident—or a robbery gone wrong? Did Captain C.H. Lewis make off with $165,000—$13.6 million in today'...

Covering the history and geography of Los Angeles and Pasadena between 1900 and 1950, the collection of over 200 vintage postcards compiled in this new volume offers a unique glimpse into turn-of-the-century southern California. As communication by postcards became popular in the late 19th century, those who received them were offered a rare view of the "right here, right now" aspect that only postcard photography could offer. From the earliest images of the Angels' Flight in Los Angeles, ...

On February 16, 1912, La Mesa Springs, a community of 700 citrus farmers, home seekers, developers, and businessmen, incorporated into the City of La Mesa. Located amongst the rolling hills and mesa lands between San Diego and El Cajon, today�s suburban city of over 56,000 is still renown for its small-town character, featuring its historic �village� business district, family-friendly neighborhoods, good schools, and ample retail and recreational amenities. The area�s centuries-old prehist...

At three times the size of Pennsylvania, with a county bigger than the whole state of Connecticut, Montana is a large place, once described as "bounded on the west by the Japan current, on the north by the aurora borealis, on the south by Price's Army, and on the east by the Day of Judgement."Montana has a rich story, in which different people have sought both great fortune and modest prosperity. How well they succeeded is part of the story told in this engaging hi...

Victor Arnautoff reigned as San Francisco's leading mural painter during the New Deal era. Yet that was only part of an astonishing life journey from Tsarist officer to leftist painter. Robert W. Cherny's masterful biography of Arnautoff braids the artist's work with his increasingly leftist politics and the tenor of his times. Delving into sources on Russian émigrés and San Francisco's arts communities, Cherny traces Arnautoff's life from refugee art student and assistant to Diego Rivera ...

This collection of eleven original essays goes beyond traditional, border-driven studies to place the histories of Native Americans, indigenous peoples, and First Nation peoples in a larger context than merely that of the dominant nation.As Transnational Indians in the North American West shows, transnationalism can be expressed in various ways. To some it can be based on dependency, so that the history of the indigenous people of the American Southwest can only be underst...

Vietnamese Americans have transformed the social, cultural, economic, and political life of Orange County, California. Previously, there were Vietnamese international students, international or war brides, or military personnel living in the United States, but the majority arrived as refugees and immigrants after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Although they are lumped together as "refugees," Vietnamese Americans are diverse in terms of their class, ethnic, regional, religious, linguis...