City of Angels?

Paper Summary:

This paper compares the visions of suburban southern California as presented in two works: "City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles" by Mike Davis and "Holy Land: A Suburban Memor" by D.J. Waldie. The paper questions whether southern California is really "heaven and hell" as Davis maintains, or a "holy land" of relative comfortable suburbs as Waldie portrays. The paper explains how Los Angeles is a city of contrasts, a multi-faceted city, that offers a different experience for each individual.

From the Paper:

"These two books show radically different sides of the same city, but that is not surprising. Los Angeles is so much to so many that perhaps she has lost her identity in the process. The diversity, the contrast from extreme wealth to extreme poverty, the endless sunshine, the unreality of the film and television industries, the burgeoning population - all of these combine to make a city anything a resident could want. Perhaps that is why these two writes show such diverse sides of the area. Los Angeles does not know who she is, and so, each writer can choose what he wants to highlight. There are so many sides to the City of Angels, it is nearly impossible to cover and analyze them all."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Davis, Mike. City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles. New York: Vintage Books, 1992.
• Waldie, D. J. Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir. New York: Buzz Book, 1996.

More papers on City of Angels?:

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• Analytical Essay # 114825 : "Fortress Los Angeles" from "City of Quartz"

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