The Development of Los Angeles City Government: An Institutional History, 1850-2000

Edited by Hynda Rudd and Tom Sitton. Los Angeles: Los Angeles City Historical Society, 2007. ISBN 978-0979579004

This two-volume collection of essays fills a gap in the historical record of urban development in Los Angeles by examining aspects of city government from 1850 to 2000. More than thirty prominent scholars, educators, and administrators contribute chapters detailing how councils, commissions, departments, and divisions came into being and how factors such as social relations, cultural shifts, economic conditions, political climate, technological advancement, population change, intergovernmental relations, and global influences have impacted governance in Los Angeles.

Brown Acres: An Intimate History of the Los Angeles Sewers

By Anna Sklar. Santa Monica: Angel City Press, 2008. ISBN 978-1883318758

The complex and often alarming history of the Los Angeles city sewer system is captured for the first time in this book. With more than fifty photographs, diagrams and maps, Brown Acres is the first historical narrative to detail any world-class city's sewer system, complete with the relationship between headstrong politicians and the reformers who sought to "heal the bay" after a century of pollution and contamination. Brown Acres provides a unique look at the underground history of Los Angeles.

Copies can be purchased from Angel City Press.

Los Angeles and Its Environs in the Twentieth Century: A Bibliography of a Metropolis: 1970-1990

Compiled and edited by Hynda Rudd; foreword by Doyce B. Nunis, Jr. Los Angeles: Los Angeles City Historical Society. ISBN 978-0938717263

This substantial reference text comprehensively indexes books, academic theses, and articles (excluding newspaper reports) written about the L.A. metropolitan area during the 1970s and '80s. Published by LACHS, it follows and complements an earlier bibliographic volume, written by Nunis, covering the period between 1900 and 1970.

No longer in print. However, both volumes can be searched online at the USC Digital Library's Los Angeles Bibliographic Database. Also, used copies are sometimes available at Amazon.com.