Smogtown: The Lung-Burning History of Pollution in Los Angeles
William J. Kelly · Chip Jacobs
Apr 2019 · Highbridge Audio · Narrated by Charles Constant
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Audiobook
10 hr 26 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook
The smog beast wafted into downtown Los Angeles on July 26, 1943. Nobody knew what it was. Secretaries rubbed their eyes. Traffic cops seemed to disappear in the mysterious haze. Were Japanese saboteurs responsible? A reckless factory? The truth was much worse—it came from within, from Southern California's burgeoning car-addicted, suburban lifestyle. Smogtown is the story of pollution, progress, and how an optimistic people confronted the epic struggle against airborne poisons barraging their hometowns. With wit, verve, and a fresh look at history, California based journalists Chip Jacobs and William J. Kelly highlight the bold personalities involved, the corporate-tainted science, the terrifying health costs, the attempts at cleanup, and how the smog battle helped mold the modern-day culture of Los Angeles. There are scofflaws aplenty and dirty deals, plus murders, suicides, spiritual despair, and an ever-present paranoia about mass disaster. Brimming with forgotten anecdotes and new revelations about our environmentally precarious present, Smogtown is a journalistic classic for the modern age.
About the author
Chip Jacobs is an award-winning author and journalist. His novel Arroyo, about Pasadena, California's mysterious Colorado Street Bridge, was a Los Angeles Times bestseller and a CrimeReads most anticipated book of 2019. His other books include Strange As It Seems, Smogtown, and The People's Republic of Chemicals.
William J. Kelly is the author of Home Safe Home. His reporting has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Consumers Digest, Inside Climate News, LA Weekly, and the California Journal, among other outlets. Kelly, the recipient of numerous writing awards, lives in the Los Angeles area.
Charles Constant is an actor whose professional storytelling career began at the age of thirteen, when he became an Actors' Equity Association apprentice. An accomplished audiobook narrator, Charles has recorded many popular titles, including How to Win at the Sport of Business by Mark Cuban. He lives in Los Angeles.
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