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9780197539750

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A marvelous combination of urban, environmental, social, cultural, and policy history, Sand Rush explains a vast expanse of LA history and geography. About a city as much defined by its coastline as by its boulevards, freeways, and diverse communities, this book presents the contested meanings of a famous and understudied space. Get Sand Rush, go to the beach, and read about the making of modern nature. * Eric Avila, author of Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight: Fear and Fantasy in Suburban Los Angeles * We tend to think of beaches and coastlines as timeless features of the natural world, a space out of time. But in this captivating, revelatory history of America's most iconic beachfront, Devienne shows that they have been anything but. From the polluting industries that once fouled its waters and sands, to the coastal engineers and urban planners who sought to mold these dynamic environments into spaces of pleasure and profit, to the social engineers who attempted to control who could enjoy it and where, Devienne shows how America's coastlines have long held a mirror to the societies they surround. A stunning achievement. * Andrew W. Kahrl, author of Free the Beaches * Thoroughly researched and beautifully contextualized, Sand Rush expertly documents how embedded the beach is within the Los Angeles civic imagination and what a precise barometer of class and racial privilege it remains. * Sarah Schrank, Journal of American History * Elsa Devienne has written the book that a lot of us were waiting for but couldn't have imagined ourselves. With insights into environmental, social, urban, and political history, Devienne has taught us not only about the beach we love, but also about the beach we never knew. * Josh Sides, California State University, Northridge * In Elsa Devienne's Sand Rush, the beaches of greater Los Angeles are finally understood for what they are: not just places for fun in the sun, but crucibles for US environmental and urban planning, environmentalism, and civil rights. * Lawrence Culver, author of Frontier of Leisure: Southern California and the Shaping of Modern America *

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Elsa Devienne is Assistant Professor in US History at Northumbria University. Her work has won the Willi Paul Adams Award awarded by the Organization of American Historians for the best book on American history published in a language other than English. She regularly appears on radio, podcasts, and TV shows to speak about her research in English and French.

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