The Los Angeles region is increasingly held up as a prototype--for good or ill--of our collective urban future; however, it is probably the least understood and most under-studied major city in the United States. Very few people beyond the boundaries of Southern California have an accurate appreciation of what the region is, who lives there, and what it does. This collection of essays brings together some important voices to dispel the myths about Southern California and to begin the process of rethinking Los Angeles. This important volume seeks to go beyond the "rebuilding" literature and explore the multiple meanings of Los Angeles, fuse theory and method into a new vision of an urban reality, break with the traditional boundaries of urban analysis, and account for the complexities of the regional megacity. Editors Michael J. Dear, H. Eric Schockman, and Greg Hise have assembled a groundbreaking volume that will be of interest to scholars and students of urban studies and American culture. Tentative contents