Mike Davis, RIP

Before too much time passes, we need to note the passing of the great leftist writer Mike Davis, who has influenced so many of us. He was best known for his two epic books on Los Angeles, loathed by the city’s endless booster class. City of Quartz and Ecology of Fear. Pieces in these books, such as “The Case for Letting Malibu Burn,” noting how the constant building in fire ecologies leads to continued inequality as every time the area burns, it gets richer and richer while the city just lets people die of fires in unsafe buildings, just drive home the real history of Los Angeles.

But for me, it is Late Victorian Holocausts that is the masterpiece. This is the best book about the realities of colonialism I have ever read. In this, he connects El Niño with 19th century trade policy to note how the British obsession with free trade as a god-like mantra combined with weather to drive millions of people to starvation since it was a far greater crime for the British to break the laws of trade than to feed the poor of India.

There’s really so much–Planet of Slums, Dead Cities, Evil Paradises, etc. What a great scholar. By most accounts, he was a pretty cranky guy (he was married like five times) but that’s not super uncommon in the world of angry leftists raging against the world. He stood by workers and gained the respect of activists worldwide. He’s one of the great all time leftist writers and he will be deeply missed.