About Visions of the Southland: A Year in Los Angeles County, Edited by Wade Graham and william Deverell

Experience a year in Los Angeles County, in all its glitter and grit, through a unique anthology that pairs essays by acclaimed writers and historians with custom maps.

When many of us picture Los Angeles, we’re actually thinking of LA County. Home to roughly ten million people, the county alone is more populous than forty-two US states. Its eighty-eight cities include places made famous by Hollywood glamor and California dreaming—Beverly Hills, Malibu, and Santa Monica—but also working-class municipalities and the self-explanatory City of Industry. With a territory that includes the Pacific coastline, mountain ranges, and the high Mojave Desert, the county’s landscapes have been touched by earthquakes, droughts, and, of course, devastating fires. LA County is a place of extremes: progress and injustice, innovation and stagnation.

Visions of the Southland collects essays by writers, journalists, and historians to create a nuanced portrait of LA that’s grounded in the county itself—its sites, structures, and stories. Contributors—including Gustavo Arellano, Keri Blakinger, Lynell George, Christopher Hawthorne, Michael Hiltzik, Greg Hise, Carolina Miranda, Becky Nicolaides, Susan Straight, and David L. Ulin—delve into LA’s infamous air pollution, movie ranches, prisons, aqueducts, urban forests, SoCal Bohemianism, and more. A custom map by Ezra Rawitsch enriches each piece and grounds the reader in specific locations throughout the county. Unfolding over the course of a year, the book traces the rhythms of politics, sports, weather, and wildlife across this sprawling and enigmatic place.

Sweeping in its scope and gorgeous in its design, Visions of the Southland will delight Angelenos, history buffs, urbanists, and map enthusiasts alike.

320 pages | 30 color plates, 2 halftones, 2 tables | 8.5 x 11 | © 2026

 

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Early Reviews of 'VISIONS OF THE SOUTHLAND'

“Vivid in detail and as wide in scope as a Hollywood epic, this collection of essays brilliantly evokes the atmospheres, landscapes, communities, and people of a city and a county that is nearly a nation itself. Grounded in the seasons that make up a year in Los Angeles, Visions of the Southland succeeds like no other recent work in finding and embracing an intimate ‘sense of place’ in a city and region long assumed to be placeless. This is an essential guide for anyone looking to understand the history and restless energy of an ever-changing metropolis.”

—D. J. Waldie, author of Elements of Los Angeles: Earth, Water, Air, Fire

“What happens when you combine a collection of cutting-edge intellectuals with America’s most sprawling, iconic, and fascinating urban space? The result is Visions of the Southland, a kaleidoscopic overview of Los Angeles County that captures the city in all its sunshine and shadow, from beaches, taco stands, and the art scene to jails, pollution, and the porn industry. Essential reading for newcomers to LA and longtime Angelenos alike.”

—Karl Jacoby, author of Shadows at Dawn: A Borderlands Massacre and the Violence of History

“Los Angeles County is more populous than forty states and larger than New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. combined—yet most Americans still can’t say where it begins or ends. Visions of the Southland takes that vastness seriously, braiding maps and essays into a captivating portrait of a place that has done more than any other to pioneer the American (sub)urban dream. Through expert stories about migration, the environment, Hollywood, and much more, it amplifies the contradictions of a fabled, fractured metropolis, revealing the vexing soul of the Southland.”

—Pamela Prickett, author of Believing in South Central: Everyday Islam in the City of Angels

“The problem is not just that the world doesn’t understand Los Angeles. The problem is that Los Angeles doesn’t know itself. Visions of the Southland should put an end to that, explaining who we are and how we survive, from the sky to the underground water and oil infrastructure of Huntington Park. The LA book that we’ve always needed has arrived.”

—Joe Matthews, publisher and columnist, Democracy Local.

Table of Contents

Why a County? Understanding Los Angeles
Wade Graham and William Deverell

January
1. Metabolism
Wade Graham
2. Migrations
Becky Nicolaides

February
3. Sport in Los Angeles County
Peter Neushul and Peter Westwick
4. Entertainment of All Kinds
Andy Lewis

March
5. Watch for Water
Michael Hiltzik and William Deverell
6. Density and Its Discontents
Greg Hise

April
7. Fluids
Steven W. Usselman
8. The Aesthetics of Banality
Christopher Hawthorne

May
9. Ocean
Wade Graham
10. Arms’ Way
Peter Westwick

June
11. Sound On: Music Made for Moving
Lynell George
12. Diversity and the Urban Forest Face Down Apocalypse
Paula M. Schiffman

July
13. Bad Air
William Deverell
14. Flow: Landscapes of Distribution
Catherine Gudis

August
15. Jailtown
Keri Blakinger
16. From the OC Borderlands
Gustavo Arellano

September
17. Harm’s Way
Wade Graham
18. Bohemian County
Sarah Schrank

October
19. Ghost Stories
David L. Ulin
20. Transit, Traffic, Los Angeles County
Laura J. Nelson

November
21. Fierce Women and White-Painted Houses: Southern California as Promised Land
Susan Straight
22. Los Angeles County Governance: A Work in Progress Since 1850
Raphael J. Sonenshein and Tom Sitton

December
23. The Official Unofficial Art Landscapes of Los Angeles County
Carolina A. Miranda
24. A Rich Portrait of the Los Angeles County Economy
Rick Wartzman

Acknowledgments
Contributors
Index