"The Reluctant Metropolis is a welcome addition to the growing literature of place. Bill Fulton brings verve and lucidity to the politics of land use, a mega-issue ready to explode in the years ahead."

--James Howard Kunstler, author of The Geography of Nowhere and Home from Nowhere

"A surprisingly lively case study of the battles and alliances of politics, business and people that formed--or deformed--a great American city."-

-Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"One of the most entertaining and thought-provoking books I have read in a long time about urban growth and change . . . Important reading for anyone interested in contemporary urban development. Fulto tells a story that may sound uniquely Los Angeles, but really applies to every growing city in America."

--Richard Peiser, APA Journal

Publisher Web Site, April 2005

In twelve engaging essays, William Fulton chronicles the history of urban planning in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, tracing the legacy of short-sighted political and financial gains that has resulted in a vast urban region on the brink of disaster. Looking at such diverse topics as shady real estate speculations, the construction of the Los Angeles subway, the battle over the future of South Central L.A. after the 1992 riots, and the emergence of Las Vegas as "the new Los Angeles," Fulton offers a fresh perspective on the city's epic sprawl. The only way to reverse the historical trends that have made Los Angeles increasingly unliveable, Fulton concludes, is to confront the prevailing "cocoon citizenship," the mind-set that prevents the city's inhabitants and leaders from recognizing Los Angeles's patchwork of communities as a single metropolis.