RIP Mike Davis

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Rest in power to a real one

Read City of Quartz in high school and got to see him speak at a local college, a defining memory. Suburbanization, how power functions in the American city, how public space is captured/recaptured etc. He was so incisive and focused, unlike many of the more famous aging leftist types (Bill Ayers, Angela Davis, etc) I saw around the same time, who were often quite disappointing.

Later on Ecology of Fear, Dead Cities, etc. Always interesting. An unapologetic rabblerouser. Him and David Graeber, both early formative influences on me.

He will be missed.
 

DannyL

Wild Horses
I've been meaning to read City of Quartz for probably 20 years now. Time to finally get round to it. Damn. RIP.
 

luka

Well-known member
another powerful member of the davis clan alongside steve, miles and me. you can see why william gibsons imagination was sparked
 

version

Well-known member
I've been meaning to read City of Quartz for probably 20 years now. Time to finally get round to it. Damn. RIP.

Have you started it? I picked it up the other day and I'm surprised at how entertaining it is. Thought it'd be a bit dry for some reason, but it isn't at all.
 

DannyL

Wild Horses
Have you started it? I picked it up the other day and I'm surprised at how entertaining it is. Thought it'd be a bit dry for some reason, but it isn't at all.
No not yet. Like all of us, I've got a massive reading pile so easy to not get to stuff. I don't own a copy either might give it a go soon though.
 

version

Well-known member
He published in LRB himself a few times.

 

version

Well-known member
The housing association stuff in City of Quartz is wild, so much discord sown by NIMBYs and anxiety over property values. Everyone desperate to be included themselves whilst pulling up the ladder behind them.

The section's pretty dry and he says in the intro he felt he may have overdone it a bit, but it's fairly interesting and a bit of an eyeopener.

I agree with some of the reasons for NIMBYism - who wants dodgy developers building on everything in sight and trashing the environment? - but, as he says in the book, it often gets folded in with more unpleasant motivations.
 

chava

Well-known member
Oh this was new to me. Remember reading Planet of Slums going through the urban sprawl in Mexico City. RIP
 

version

Well-known member
Almost done with Planet of Slums. I knew things were bad, but having it set out like this is something else. The stats he chucks at you are eye watering; 28,000 people sharing two public toilets.
 

version

Well-known member
Almost done with Planet of Slums. I knew things were bad, but having it set out like this is something else. The stats he chucks at you are eye watering; 28,000 people sharing two public toilets.

The stuff at the end about organ harvesting, child slavery and children being accused of witchcraft is really rough. A crescendo of stats and horror stories capped off with the very worst, then you get the knockout blow of the epilogue where he says the only people taking the slums seriously and being honest about them are western militaries looking for the best way to fight in them...

I might go straight into another of his, but they're incredibly bleak.
 
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