For our June reading group, we're taking on what is arguably the most important book ever written about Los Angeles: City of Quartz by Mike Davis.

More than thirty years after its publication, City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles remains essential reading for anyone trying to understand housing, policing, power, development, inequality, and urban life in Southern California. Davis strips away the myths of sunny beaches and endless opportunity to reveal the political, economic, and social forces that shaped modern Los Angeles. His account of speculative real estate, elite power, downtown redevelopment, and the militarization of public space continues to influence activists, planners, architects, historians, and organizers around the world.

For this month's discussion, please read Chapters 3, 4, and 5.

And in a fitting twist, we'll be gathering at one of the book's most iconic settings: the Westin Bonaventure Hotel.

You can purchase the book at Verso Books, or on Ebay, or grab a copy from your local library.