Dead cities, and other tales
By: Mike Davis
Publisher: New Press; Distributed by W.W. Norton
Published: 2002
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 432
ISBN-13: 9781565847651; 9781565848443
Subjects: Social conflict; Urban ecology (Sociology); Nature; Cities and towns; Effect of human beings on; Stadt; Urban policy; Disasters; Case studies
Description: "In the first part of Dead Cities, the horror of lower Manhattan's falling skyscrapers (already anticipated by Welles, Lorca, and Dos Passos) is conjugated with Las Vegas' delirious delight in blowing up its landmark hotels. The Glitterdome's insatiable drinking spree, moreover, has become a symbol for the urban West's approaching showdown with Mother Nature. But in other parts of Marlboro country the apocalypse has already happened. The eerie Pentagon deserts of Nevada and Utah - with their destroyed landscapes, "doomtowns," and leukemic children - are a backdrop to the story of the New Deal's last great public works project the incineration of the cities of Germany and Japan." "Likewise, the wasteland flanks of downtown L.A. are a stage for tales of infinite greed, urban neglect, political scandal, neighborhood-level ethnic cleansing, and, ultimately, the firestorm of 1992. In the essays on "extreme science," Davis explains how the "neocatastrophist" revolution in earth sciences might become a paradigm for understanding the violent punctuated evolution of big cities. The title essay is an astonishing autopsy of metropolis dead on a slab, with reflections on "bomber ecology" and "ghetto geomorphology." The final chapter, with its accounts of Montreal and Auckland temporarily brought to their knees by ice storms and heat, warns that our urban infrastructures are as little prepared to deal with climate change as with car bombs and hijacked airliners."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Preface : Flames of New York; title: Part I : Neon west; title: White people are only a bad dream ; Ecocide in Marlboro Country ; Berlin's skeleton in Utah's closet ; Las Vegas versus nature ; Tsunami memories; title: Part II : Holy ghosts; title: Pentecostal earthquake ; Hollywood's dark shadow ; Infinite game ; Subway that ate L.A. ; New industrial peonage; title: Part III : Riot city; title: As bad as the H-bomb ; Burning all illusions ; Who killed L.A.? A political autopsy ; Fear and loathing in Compton ; Dante's choice; title: Part IV : Extreme science; title: Cosmic dancers on history's stage? ; Dead cities : a natural history ; Strange times begin.