A People’s Guide to Los Angeles offers an assortment of eye-opening alternatives to L.A.’s usual tourist destinations. It documents 115 little-known sites in the City of Angels where struggles related to race; class; gender; and sexuality have occurred. They introduce us to people and events usually ignored by mainstream media and; in the process; create a fresh history of Los Angeles. Roughly dividing the city into six regions—North Los Angeles; the Eastside and San Gabriel Valley; South Los Angeles; Long Beach and the Harbor; the Westside; and the San Fernando Valley—this illuminating guide shows how power operates in the shaping of places; and how it remains embedded in the landscape.
#2490611 in Books 2009-02-09 2009-02-09Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x .88 x 6.00l; 1.10 #File Name: 0520254856368 pages
Review
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. Challenging and DelightfulBy Dae AnThis book is a must-read for anyone interested in the true origins of Zen Buddhism. With a scholar's attention to detail and a revolutionary's urge to dismantle sacred cows; Cole takes on the traditional romantic view of the birth of Zen. He makes the case that the genealogies of transmission which are so sacred to Zen; were a self-consious fabrication designed to win political battles for power and authority. He persuasively argues that the image of the Zen Master as a simple and pure manifestation of wisdom is a literary tradition based on Taoist precedents rather than on actual human beings.As a Zen teacher; I found his detailed reasoning both compelling and disturbing. Other contemporary scholars are also challenging the internal origin stories of the Zen movement; but none with the no-holds-barred approach that Cole brings to this work. In the end; I do think he over-reaches in claiming there is nothing to the whole Zen enterprise is nothing but smoke and mirrors. Clearly the persistence of the Zen tradition itself is living proof that something is happening; even if the stories we tell ourselves are better taken for their internal truth rather than their historical veracity.4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Very stimulatingBy Philip LeetchThe book is a masterly display of the historian's art; questioning texts and approaching past records in their contexts and with due scepticism. It is also a delightful read [although I see its easy style irritated some scholarly reviewers]. Read alongside such books as Forgery and Counterforgery ; this book does alert one to the dubious nature of much religious tradition.1 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Trying too hard to be different but has a nasty edgeBy Darvid KohThis book may claim to be a different deconstruction of traditional Chan history but it is too glib in its approach with a nasty lack of respect for traditional human wisdom. So Alan Cole thinks there is no such thing as enlightenment as a worthwhile human experience? Of course; given the scandalous behavior of some recent American "dharma heirs" of Japanese Zen masters who were embroiled in financial and sexual shenanigans and their dubious satori experiences; he may be somewhat justified in his views. (It would certainly be worthwhile for someone to write a full-blown book about them with all the sordid details.) But there are many people still living who have come into contact with Chan masters such as Xu Yun (1840-1959) who can testify that there is such a thing as enlightened wisdom. He may try to offer a somewhat different interpretation of Chan's relevance to Chinese society and history but his dismissal of fellow scholars' (some of them conveniently now dead such as John McRae) interpretations as still clinging to traditionalist views shows up his own overly critical approach. He is just trying to be different for the sake of being different. Reading such a book is a waste of time.
