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[[File:9780806159041.jpg|150px2500px|thumb|rightleft|''Colonial Intimacies: Interethnic Kinship, Sexuality, and Marriage in Southern California, 1769-1885'']] Erika Pérez, ''Colonial Intimacies: Interethnic Kinship, Sexuality, and Marriage in Southern California, 1769-1885'' (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2018). In this book, Pérez explores colonization and power through intimate relationships. She explains how everyday interactions illuminate larger ideas about the colonial projects that frame them. Pérez also looks at the children produced through these interethnic relationships to explain how their experiences with colonialism were different than their parents'--and that this was often related to their sex, and what economic opportunities they might have. This is one of the more recent books on this list, yet it covers the earliest period, chronologically. Those who are interested in the history of imperialism or colonialism may be interested in this book.
Daniel Hurewitz, ''Bohemian Los Angeles and the Making of Modern Politics'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008). If you read this book with George Chauncey's ''Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940'' you would have a thorough understanding of the pre-Civil Rights Movement history of the gay community on the East and West coasts. Hurewitz uncovers the story of this movement from a group of artists, leftists, and gay men and women who, together, began to formulate ideas that we might now call "identity politics." This book uses an assortment of records to tell this story, and Hurewitz argues that the legacy of these people is still significant in American politics today.
[[File:9780520246676.jpg|150px|thumb|left| ''Whitewashed Adobe: The Rise of Los Angeles and the Remaking of its Mexican Past'']] William F. Deverell, ''Whitewashed Adobe: The Rise of Los Angeles and the Remaking of its Mexican Past'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004). In focusing on several key points in Los Angeles history, Deverell explores the process through which Los Angeles became modern, white, and American. Deverell argues that this process took place from the late 19th century through the early 20th century and occurred through the selective erasure and obliteration of its Mexican past. If you're interested in the history of memory, this book provides a fascinating perspective on how places are remembered, or how histories of places are created.
Becky M. Nicolaides, ''My Blue Heaven: Life and Politics in the Working-Class Suburbs of Los Angeles, 1920-1965'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002). In ''My Blue Heaven'' Nicolaides lays out the early history of suburbanization near Los Angeles--focusing on the suburb of South Gate. Nicolaides explains how some of these early homeowners in this blue-collar area built their homes from the ground up. Over time, as the are became more diverse, and especially as it was geographically situated next to the African-American community of Watts during the Civil Rights Movement, homeowners in South Gate became increasingly became interested in protecting their homes. However, this was not just about literally protecting their homes, rather they were also concerned with what their homes represented: self-reliance and white homeowner rights.
Nathaniel West, ''The Day of the Locust'' (New York: Random House, 1939).
While this may be a novel and part of our Western Canon, it can also be considered a loose primary source. In ''The Day of the Locust'' West writes about Hollywood during the Great Depression. The novel is from the perspective of the protagonist Tod Hackett, and the tone for much of the book is despondent and cynical. In the novel, all of the characters are shallow, and all have come to Hollywood to make it big. The city is full of outcasts and rejects and West is critical of the masses and popular culture. Where this seems like a primary source is in its discussion of the American dream and its elusiveness--particularly for Americans who were negatively affected by the Great Depression. Similarly, a significant number of people did try to move to Los Angeles during this period because the movies that came from Hollywood seemed to suggest that the Depression had not reached Tinseltown. Nevertheless, it had.
[[File:9780520248113.jpg|150px|thumb|left|250px|''Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight: Fear and Fantasy in Suburban Los Angeles'']] Eric Avila, ''Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight: Fear and Fantasy in Suburban Los Angeles'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006) and Genevieve Carpio, ''Collissions at the Crossroads: How Place and Mobility Make Race'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2019). [[File:9780520298835.jpg|150px|thumb|right]] These two books are side-by-side and complement each other in specific ways. Carpio explores how mobility helped to define race by looking at specific ordinances and policies. Race often determined how easily one was able to move in and out of specific spaces. At the same time, Avila's work explores the racialization of ''public'' entertainment after World War II. Both books speak to the racialization of space--whether that is the suburbs, Disneyland, or boarding schools.
