7/8/2023 0 Comments Dead Cities by Mike Davis![]() ![]() “Lower Manhattan was soon a furnace of crimson flames,” writes Wells it is a conceit that brings equal pleasure to Wells, who despised New York and, apparently, to Davis, who characterizes the Wells’ story: “In a single day, haughty Manhattanites are demoted to slaughtered natives.” Wells in his 1908 book, “War in the Air,” in which the city is destroyed in a surprise attack from Kaiser Wilhelm’s zeppelins. What’s new in this collection is the opening essay on 9/11 titled “The Flames of New York.” The essay’s title is borrowed from an image conjured by science fiction writer H.G. ![]() “Dead Cities” is a collection of previously published articles from the last decade. ![]() ![]() For Davis, who first won attention with two books on Los Angeles, “City of Quartz” and “Ecology of Fear,” America’s cities are a toxic expression of imperial hubris and greed, and 9/11 was punishment for New York’s sins against socialism, squeegee men and dark-skinned Muslims, just as fires and earthquakes are L.A.’s punishment for its sins against nature. 11, and that’s a very good thing if you believe Mike Davis. New York and urban America may never recover from Sept. ![]()
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