Mike Davis

Mike Davis charts the expected global urbanization explosion over the next 30 years and points out that outside China most of the rest of the world's urban growth will be without industrialization or development, rather a 'peverse' urban boom in spite of stagnant or negative urban economic growth.

In "No one is illegal" Justin Akers Chacón and Mike Davis expose the racism of anti-immigration vigilantes and put a human face on the immigrants who daily risk their lives to cross the border to work in the United States. Counting the mounting chorus of anti-immigrant voices, "No one is illegal" debunks the leading ideas behind the often violent right-wing backlash against immigrants, revealing their deep roots in U.S. history, and documents the new civil rights movement that has mounted protests around the country to demand justice and dignity for immigrants.

Narrator: James Patrick Cronin

A fascinating account of the Latinization of the US urban landscape, Magical Urbanism forcefully shows that this is a demographic and cultural revolution with extraordinary implications. Davis focuses on the great drama of how Latinos are attempting to translate their urban demographic ascendancy into effective social power. Pundits are now unanimous that Spanish-surname voters are the sleeping giant of US politics, yet electoral mobilization alone is unlikely to redress the increasing income and opportunity gaps between urban Latinos and suburban non-Hispanic whites. Therefore, in Los Angeles and elsewhere, the militant struggles of Latino workers and students are reinventing the American left. Fully updated throughout, and with new chapters on the anti-immigrant backlash, the impact of climate change on the urban Southwest, and the exploding counter-migration of Anglos to Mexico, Magical Urbanism is essential reading for anyone who wants to grasp the future of urban America.

Los Angeles has become a magnet for the American apocalyptic imagination, with many disasters - both real and those created by Hollywood movies - in recent years. This book examines the history of disaster - both real and imagined - in LA.

Until the late nineteenth century, it was widely believed that an ancient Viking colony had survived on the unexplored and ice-locked coast of southeast Greenland. The Danish discovery of the isolated Inuit culture of the Ammassalick Fiord in 1884 did not fully dispel the myth. Now jump to present-day Greenland: four teenaged scientists, winners of United Nations scholarships, are excited to spend their summer counting reindeer for the celebrated Professor Dansgaard at his Artic wildlife research station. But when they discover some mysterious bones in Dansgaard's lab, they suddenly find themselves on an expedition to the mysterious Valley of the Runes. Battling screaming ice, marooned Vikings, a sorcerer named Halldor, an Arctic hurricane, and a collapsing cave, the adventurers must learn the deep meaning of friendship and nonviolence if they are to survive. Mike Davis's tale of teenage teamwork and discovery is filled with scientific wonder, coming-of-age intrigue, and potent lessons on the fruits of collaboration and friendship.