Andrew Rolle's Los Angeles: From Pueblo to City of the Future published in 1995 is an expanded and revised edition of a book published in 1981 during Los Angeles' bicentennial year. Although the book overall is a booster of Los Angeles, Rolle does not shirk from discussing many of the city's major and chronic problems such as lack of water, lack of public transportation, unregulated growth, ethnic tensions and gang culture.
One of the book's major themes is that Los Angeles "has equated technological expansion with human problems" resulting in a host of problems (6). Rolle contends that ethnically diverse Los Angeles is not a melting pot but "a mosaic of many different nationalities and races" which results in a Balkanized Los Angeles with a "diminished chance for revitalization" (129-130). Rolle cites many environmental problems ranging from smog to pollution to "senseless destruction" of historic and significant architecture. He makes the point that Los Angeles "defies its environment" (150). Crime, particularly gang violence, police brutality as well as an understaffed police force, and education and human services are among other problems discussed by Rolle.
On the positive side, Rolle recognizes the vitality of the city, and the development of Los Angeles as a powerful international trade center, connected to the Pacific Rim. Despite the fact that the image of Los Angeles has diminished in recent years, Rolle believes the city's population, and the future of the city, is basically optimistic.
The author has excellent credentials as a writer of historical books that focus on the West. He has written a standard history of California which is used in colleges and universities and is the author of numerous other books dealing largely with western history. In addition, Rolle is Professor Emeritus of History at Occidental College, a Senior Scholar in Residence at the Huntington Library and a lecturer at the Autry Museum of...