The Irish Times, in its usual liberal thick-as-two-planks way, has a headline on its website that declares that even wealthy areas of Los Angeles are not immune to the terrifying bush fires which are ravaging parts of that extraordinary city. But what has been plain for years is that it is precisely the planning or non-planning that has allowed the very wealthy to build in vulnerable forested areas in the hills that has put the glitterati in harm's way. So, though the Irish Times would never admit it, we need to return to the grim logic so mordantly outlined by Mike Davis - 'the case for letting Malibu burn'.
This blog has eulogised Davis, virtuoso historian of Los Angeles and of eco-disaster generally, on several previous occasions. Davis, a gritty, stylish and erudite writer, made his name with Prisoners of the American Dream (1985), a brilliant account of the American working class, and sealed his reputation with his wonderful history of Los Angeles, City of Quartz (1990).
Davis died in 2022 but his writing about LA, its misgovernance and the violence on nature which its construction and meteoric growth have entailed is as interesting and illuminating as ever.
Here is his classic essay, named to piss everyone off:
