{"product_id":"inventing-autopia-dreams-and-visions-of-the-modern-metropolis-in-jazz-age-los-angeles-paperback","title":"Inventing Autopia: Dreams and Visions of the Modern Metropolis in Jazz Age Los Angeles - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJeremiah B. C. Axelrod\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1920, as its population began to explode, Los Angeles was a largely pastoral city of bungalows and palm trees. Thirty years later, choked with smog and traffic, the city had become synonymous with urban sprawl and unplanned growth. Yet Los Angeles was anything but unplanned, as Jeremiah B.C. Axelrod reveals in this compelling, visually oriented history of the metropolis during its formative years. In a deft mix of cultural and intellectual history that brilliantly illuminates the profound relationship between imagination and place, \u003ci\u003eInventing Autopia \u003c\/i\u003eshows how the clash of irreconcilable utopian visions and dreams resulted in the invention of an unforeseen new form of urbanism--sprawling, illegible, fractured--that would reshape not only Southern California but much of the nation in the years to come.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eFront Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFlat-out one of the most interesting books I've read in years. To say that a book about California might rank with Kevin Starr's \u003ci\u003eAmericans and the California Dream\u003c\/i\u003e or Mike Davis' \u003ci\u003eCity of Quartz\u003c\/i\u003e is dangerously high praise, but I think Axelrod's book may someday be in that league.--John Ganim, University of California, Riverside\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eInventing Autopia \u003c\/i\u003ethoughtfully weaves together planning and policy history with cultural history to great effect. It is sure to change our understanding of the ways in which Los Angeles not only grew and developed but envisioned itself in the era.\"--William Deverell, author of \u003ci\u003eWhitewashed Adobe: The Rise of Los Angeles and the Remaking of Its Mexican Past\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJeremiah B.C. Axelrod \u003c\/b\u003eis Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Program in Cultural Studies at Occidental College.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 416\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.99 x 9.06 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e June 02, 2009\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42153350856839,"sku":"9780520252851","price":62.91,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/3cac8ed8e30a92e6173ef809077aed0a.webp?v=1733220920","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/inventing-autopia-dreams-and-visions-of-the-modern-metropolis-in-jazz-age-los-angeles-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}