Translating LA: A Tour of the Rainbow City
“Peter Theroux, as a brilliant translator and writer, has taught western readers about the Arabic world. Now, with Translating LA, Theroux crosses new borders—in southern California. With great wit and energy, he shows us the Los Angeles we have not understood well enough. He deconstructs and reconstructs the city famous for its separate freeway exits until finally and for the first time (like newcomers from a foreign land) we see Los Angeles whole.” —Richard Rodriguez

At a time when it is America’s leading candidate for the star role of Armageddon, Los Angeles still reigns as the destination par excellence and de facto trendsetter for the United States. Despite its curse of ancient and modern-day plagues—what other city can claim the rights to earthquakes and smog as well as riots and gang warfare?—Los Angeles remains the mythical source for the blood flowing through the American heart: the "pot of gold" that lies on the other coast of the rainbow. In Translating LA, Peter Theroux leads us beyond the rainbow in an affectionate and anecdotal guide to the human centers of Los Angeles. By bringing LA's thousand-and-one ethnic enclaves together with its broad range of social classes, Theroux understands LA by stretching across its fault lines with results that are "surprising and illuminating" (LA Reader). With its genuine sensitivity towards past, present, and future, Translating LA searches the souls of Angelenos to deliver a remarkable commentary on America's most complex and diverse city.
1102490066
Translating LA: A Tour of the Rainbow City
“Peter Theroux, as a brilliant translator and writer, has taught western readers about the Arabic world. Now, with Translating LA, Theroux crosses new borders—in southern California. With great wit and energy, he shows us the Los Angeles we have not understood well enough. He deconstructs and reconstructs the city famous for its separate freeway exits until finally and for the first time (like newcomers from a foreign land) we see Los Angeles whole.” —Richard Rodriguez

At a time when it is America’s leading candidate for the star role of Armageddon, Los Angeles still reigns as the destination par excellence and de facto trendsetter for the United States. Despite its curse of ancient and modern-day plagues—what other city can claim the rights to earthquakes and smog as well as riots and gang warfare?—Los Angeles remains the mythical source for the blood flowing through the American heart: the "pot of gold" that lies on the other coast of the rainbow. In Translating LA, Peter Theroux leads us beyond the rainbow in an affectionate and anecdotal guide to the human centers of Los Angeles. By bringing LA's thousand-and-one ethnic enclaves together with its broad range of social classes, Theroux understands LA by stretching across its fault lines with results that are "surprising and illuminating" (LA Reader). With its genuine sensitivity towards past, present, and future, Translating LA searches the souls of Angelenos to deliver a remarkable commentary on America's most complex and diverse city.
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Translating LA: A Tour of the Rainbow City

Translating LA: A Tour of the Rainbow City

Translating LA: A Tour of the Rainbow City

Translating LA: A Tour of the Rainbow City

Overview

“Peter Theroux, as a brilliant translator and writer, has taught western readers about the Arabic world. Now, with Translating LA, Theroux crosses new borders—in southern California. With great wit and energy, he shows us the Los Angeles we have not understood well enough. He deconstructs and reconstructs the city famous for its separate freeway exits until finally and for the first time (like newcomers from a foreign land) we see Los Angeles whole.” —Richard Rodriguez

At a time when it is America’s leading candidate for the star role of Armageddon, Los Angeles still reigns as the destination par excellence and de facto trendsetter for the United States. Despite its curse of ancient and modern-day plagues—what other city can claim the rights to earthquakes and smog as well as riots and gang warfare?—Los Angeles remains the mythical source for the blood flowing through the American heart: the "pot of gold" that lies on the other coast of the rainbow. In Translating LA, Peter Theroux leads us beyond the rainbow in an affectionate and anecdotal guide to the human centers of Los Angeles. By bringing LA's thousand-and-one ethnic enclaves together with its broad range of social classes, Theroux understands LA by stretching across its fault lines with results that are "surprising and illuminating" (LA Reader). With its genuine sensitivity towards past, present, and future, Translating LA searches the souls of Angelenos to deliver a remarkable commentary on America's most complex and diverse city.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780393313949
Publisher: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date: 11/17/1995
Edition description: Revised ed.
Pages: 276
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Jo Anne Metsch is an illustrator and book designer.

Henry Sene Yee is an award-winning book cover designer and street photographer.

John Humble is an American photographer known for his photographs of the Los Angeles landscape.
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