Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology: A Library of America Special Publication

What is Los Angeles? The utopical golden land of new beginnings or the ruinous end of the American dream? It is both, as this anthology will show. A precious book for everyone looking for a comprehensive collection of the manifold ideas and representations Los Angeles has inspired through its history, "Writing Los Angeles" comprises two centuries of great literature. From William Faulkner to Joan Didion, from Nathanael West to James Ellroy, every great author shows a different aspect of the City of Angels: City of noir, city of apocalypse, city of pictures, city of dreams and nigthmare, "autopia", "lost world" and what else?I found this anthology pretty useful and inspiring. Though not all voices are heard with the same intensity, it comprehends works by novelists, architects, journalists, urbanists. There are American voices and European voices, angry ones and enthusiastic ones. A must-be for every kind of audience.

Enjoying it.What a wonderful collection of short stories and parts of longer stories. If you know Los Angeles, you nod your head in agreement. If you don't know it, you get acquainted with it. I'll never forget those little forays into the life of LA people. I especially remember the women in the stories by Faulkner, Menchen, and Williams. Not the glamorous movie stars, but unforgettable older ladies—the salt-of-earth Nebraskan Mama Ewing, the blessed Sister Aimée, and the tough but adorable Olga Kedrova.

The only "plot" is Los Angeles as treated by writers over many decades. This is a remarkable collection of very well-chosen reportage, memoirs, short fiction, essays, etc., all dealing with the city and the people of LA. NOT a travel book. An ideal gift for a thoughtful loved one moving to or living in the city.

There are some great excerpts in this book, the problem being is that you only get a little taste of a variety of books from which these writings were taken from. If you're willing to spend money on several books to get the entire readings then this book won't be so bad. If you have to get this book for a class then you don't have many options here. Overall the book is decent, I won't recommend it in general because this book serves a specific purpose. If it fulfills your need, then it will be a fit for you.

I used it this year for a course in American lit and style analysis. Diverse voices covering the complete span of the history of the city allows you to complement other texts in considering theme and style. We read the Mailer and Kerouac pieces back to back, for example. Nice anchor for the syllabus.

I've lived in L.A. for 17 years now, and I feel like I am still discovering the place. This book is an awesome distillation of some of the best writing about L.A. Didion, Capote, West, Faulkner, Weschler, Iyer, Bradbury, they're all here. It's my favorite book to just pick up and "read something" out of, at the moment. This one will be on my coffee table for a good long while.

Excellent excerpts. All the tidbits of Los Angeles that you want from famous authors. From Faulkner to Mosley, this is a great introductory to Los Angeles literature.

I bought it for my pierce college class and its ok

As a fan of and student of the wonderful, magical, artificial city of Los Angeles, I awaited this book with some anticipation. It proved every bit worth the wait - David Ulin, the editor, is a well-known L.A. historian, and his encyclopaedic knowledge of the city, its artists and its history shines through in this huge anthology.The articles are arranged in chronological order from the early (Anglo) writers like Helen Hunt Jackson right up to the present day. They consist of extracts from longer texts, complete articles, fiction, diary entries and factual accounts of the life and times of the city. There's hardly a duff page in the book - every entry has been chosen for the quality of writing and commentary above all, and the book features some of the very best writers the world has ever seen: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Joan Didion, Tom Wolfe, Jack Kerouac, Truman Capote, Raymond Chandler, H.L. Mencken, Evelyn Waugh, Norman Mailer, Upton Sinclair...the list goes on.This book casts me easily back to the fair city of Los Angeles, even in the dark winter months here in England. The hardback edition that I purchased from Amazon is well printed on good quality paper - necessarily quite thin due to the length and size of the book, but very smooth and durable all the same. It's a triumph, a book I will treasure for decades to come. Exceptional!

Das Buch versammelt alle wichtigen Geschichten über Los Angeles, die bis zur Veröffentlichung im Jahr 2002 die Stadt in ihrer Widersprüchlichkeit beschreiben. Fiktive Kurzgeschichten, Romanauszüge, Tagebucheinträge, wissenschaftliche Beiträge - alles in allem Momentaufnahmen über eine Stadt, die oft missverstanden, zwiespältig diskutiert, geliebt und gleichzeitig gehasst wird.Autoren wie Upton Sinclair, Aldous Huxley, Raymond Chandler, Joan Didion, Budd Schulberg, Berthold Brecht, Tom Wolfe, David Hockney oder Truman Capote offenbaren in kurzen, literarischen Auszügen ihren ganz persönlichen Blick auf Los Angeles und nehmen uns mit auf eine Reise in eine der faszinierendsten Städte der Welt.