City of Industry: Genealogies of Power in Southern California
City of Industry: Genealogies of Power in Southern California
City of Industry is a stunning exposé on the construction of corporate capitalist spaces. Investigating Industry’s archives, including sealed FBI reports, Valle uncovered a series of scandals from the city’s founder James M. Stafford to present day corporate heir Edward Roski Jr., the nation’s biggest industrial developer. While exposing the corruption and corporate greed spawned from the growth of new technology and engineering, Valle reveals the plight of the property-owning servants, especially Latino working-class communities, who have fallen victim to the effects of this tale of corporate greed.
List Price: $ 21.95
Price: $ 19.00
Find More California City Products
a fascinating exposé of political corruption and racism,
Víctor Valle’s City of Industry is a fascinating exposé of political corruption and racism wrapped in a “Chinatown-like” historic epic. A slice of Southern California History from the 1920s to the 1980s, with the City’s founder Jim Stafford at the center, the parts of this puzzle of a story include the power of the railroads companies and developers and the privatization of government. Combining intrigue and detail accounting, Valle explains the redirecting of funds to redevelopment projects often at the expense of low-income residents. Valle also offers a biting critique of the press. Ultimately this is a story of the unholy symbiotic relationship between developers and politicians, with the former donating to the latter’s (city and county) campaigns and, in turn, public officials diverting incredible amounts of public wealth into the coffers of private developers.
Was this review helpful to you?
|Insightful, to say the least!,
I grew up in Bassett, California and had heard and read of the going ons in Industry. An amazing piece of investigative work on Mr Valle’s behalf. Great comparisons to Polanski’s Chinatown also, intrigue from Sacramento to El Monte to La Puente.
Was this review helpful to you?
|A great investigative piece of reporting,
“City of Industry: Geneologies of Power in Southern California” is the kind of book that should be a best-seller but won’t be. It should be because it is a thoroughly documented expose’ of a tiny (pop 700), multi billion dollar railroad town in Los Angeles County that has manipulated itself to global importance, but has gotten where it is by breaking all of the rules and corrupting local and state politicians. The author, Dr. Victor Valle, formerly of the Los Angeles Times, should receive some high award for this effort, but he won’t. The facts are all there in this book. However, this world, this nation, this state, that little town seem to prefer back-alley cheating and corruption as the means to satisfactory ends. Too bad, we haven’t evolved into a more enlightened species. Thanks Prof. Valle. for a valiant, if futile, effort.
Was this review helpful to you?
|