Extraordinarily good . . . An important contribution to studies of the Los Angeles basin, the book ought to have wider appeal among scholars of racial formation, suburbanization, and the development of the American West.
-- Don Mitchell ― author of The Lie of the Land: Migrant Workers and the California Landscape
Deftly blending social history and cultural critique, Barraclough’s fine book forces us to think in new ways about the relationships between rural and urban areas, between the suburb and the city, and between the past and the present.
-- George Lipsitz ― author of The Possessive Investment in Whiteness Geography / Urban Studies
A fine addition to the growing literature on Los Angeles and suburbia, as well as whiteness and the complicated history of landscape preservation. . . . [I]t connects the San Fernando Valley to regional, national, and global history. In telling the making of the distinctive landscape of the San Fernando Valley, Barraclough has written a book relevant to any reader interested in modern U.S. cities, suburbs, and society.
-- Lawrence Culver ― Environmental History
Barraclough’s chief insight is discerning how those linking suburbia to the mythic west have managed purposefully to construct racial identities and maintain white privilege in the San Fernando Valley (and elsewhere in the west). The book is a richly detailed, lucidly written, and astute history of the San Fernando Valley. It belongs alongside other important histories of the region by Kevin Starr, Robert Fogelson, William Fulton, Becky M. Nicolaides, and too few others.
-- Ronald A. Davidson ― Journal of Historical Geography
To [the] list of must-reads, Angelenos especially should add Laura Barraclough’s Making the San Fernando Valley. . . .She offers some sharp insights into the historical pressures and contemporary dilemmas confronting a once-rural landscape. . . .spot on.
-- Char Miller ― Southern California Quarterly
Extraordinarily good . . . An important contribution to studies of the Los Angeles basin, the book ought to have wider appeal among scholars of racial formation, suburbanization, and the development of the American West.
Deftly blending social history and cultural critique, Barraclough's fine book forces us to think in new ways about the relationships between rural and urban areas, between the suburb and the city, and between the past and the present.
A fine addition to the growing literature on Los Angeles and suburbia, as well as whiteness and the complicated history of landscape preservation. . . . [I]t connects the San Fernando Valley to regional, national, and global history. In telling the making of the distinctive landscape of the San Fernando Valley, Barraclough has written a book relevant to any reader interested in modern U.S. cities, suburbs, and society.
Barraclough's chief insight is discerning how those linking suburbia to the mythic west have managed purposefully to construct racial identities and maintain white privilege in the San Fernando Valley (and elsewhere in the west). The book is a richly detailed, lucidly written, and astute history of the San Fernando Valley. It belongs alongside other important histories of the region by Kevin Starr, Robert Fogelson, William Fulton, Becky M. Nicolaides, and too few others.
To [the] list of must-reads, Angelenos especially should add Laura Barraclough's Making the San Fernando Valley. . . .She offers some sharp insights into the historical pressures and contemporary dilemmas confronting a once-rural landscape. . . .spot on.
About the Author
LAURA R. BARRACLOUGH is an assistant professor of sociology at Kalamazoo College. She is a native of the San Fernando Valley and received degrees from the University of Southern California and the University of California San Diego.
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