To the editor: Gustavo Arellano's adulthood column about the “prophet” Mike Davis is exactly what he would expect from someone guaranteed to buy the most dystopic versions of our ignorant city.
So I doubt that Arellano has read the scorching demolition of Davis's masterpiece, “City of Quartz”, of the former columnist and critic of Times Christopher Hawthorne in 2011.
Hawthorne ridiculed the book as, among other deficiencies, “overwritten and blatantly hyperbolic”, “in desperate need for … verification of facts”, “Agrio where he is not set” and “densely full of self -esteem.”
To be fair, it is not a completely negative review. But at least it has the virtue of balance, something that Arellano cannot gather.
Jeff Schultz, Los Angeles
