Between the onset of a worldwide economic crisis in 1973 and the start of the twenty-first century, Los Angeles emerged as a model “global” or “neoliberal city,” powered by the international movement of people, goods, and capital. Battle Lines offers a new perspective on this period through the eyes of those Angelenos—including workers, migrants, community activists, and criminalized youth—who envisioned a city that was both global and just.

Where most accounts of globalization and the “neoliberal order” take place inside the halls of political and economic power, my book explores the changes of the late twentieth century from street level. Ultimately, L.A.’s global transformation, far from being primarily imposed from above, is the outcome of a decades-long struggle between three competing visions of the city: what I call the world city project, the California dream, and the politics of protection.

Portions of this research have appeared in the Journal of Urban History, the LA Review of Books, Protean Magazine, Public Books, and the anthology Writing the Golden State: The New Literary Terrain of California.