Los Angeles is a city which has long thrived on the continual re-creation of own myth. In this extraordinary and original work, Norman Klein examines the process of memory erasure in LA. Using a provocative mixture of fact and fiction, the book takes us on an 'anti-tour' of downtown LA, examines life for Vietnamese immigrants in the City of Dreams, imagines Walter Benjamin as a Los Angeleno, and finally looks at the way information technology has recreated the city, turning cyberspace into the last suburb. In this new edition, Norman Klein examines new models for erasure in LA. He explores the evolution of the Latino majority, how the Pacific economy is changing the structure of urban life, the impact of collapsing infrastructure in the city, and the restructuring of those very districts that had been 'forgotten'.

This important collection of essays expands the geographic, demographic, and analytic scope of the term genocide to encompass the effects of colonialism and settler colonialism in North America. Colonists made multiple and interconnected attempts to destroy Indigenous peoples as groups. The contributors examine these efforts through the lens of genocide. Considering some of the most destructive aspects of the colonization and subsequent settlement of North America, several essays address Indigenous boarding school systems imposed by both the Canadian and U.S. governments in attempts to "civilize" or "assimilate" Indigenous children. Contributors examine some of the most egregious assaults on Indigenous peoples and the natural environment, including massacres, land appropriation, the spread of disease, the near-extinction of the buffalo, and forced political restructuring of Indigenous communities. Assessing the record of these appalling events, the contributors maintain that North Americans must reckon with colonial and settler colonial attempts to annihilate Indigenous peoples. Contributors. Jeff Benvenuto, Robbie Ethridge, Theodore Fontaine, Joseph P. Gone, Alexander Laban Hinton, Tasha Hubbard, Margaret D. Jabobs, Kiera L. Ladner, Tricia E. Logan, David B. MacDonald, Benjamin Madley, Jeremy Patzer, Julia Peristerakis, Christopher Powell, Colin Samson, Gray H. Whaley, Andrew Woolford

A memoir from the Native American poet describes her youth with an abusive stepfather, becoming a single teen mom, and how she struggled to finally find inner peace and her creative voice.

"Erasure: The Spectre of Cultural Memory explores key issues around the increasing aesthetic and cultural erasure occurring in our society. It moves from the seminal act of the American Pop artist Robert Rauschenberg erasing a drawing by the painter Willem de Kooning in 1953, perhaps signalling that an echo or trace would be all that is valued in the future, to the impact that the new technologies - such as Twitter, Facebook, email, smartphones, snapchat and Instagram - are having on family, class, sex, time, speed and space. This erasure is driven by new media technology, globalisation, and new structures of education, work, home and consumption. Erasure: The Spectre of Cultural Memory is the first book that brings together artists, curators, scholars and thinkers who are, in their respective contexts, at the forefront of these compelling questions"--Publisher's website.

"Memory/Erasure is a volume comprised of largely autobiographical poetry. In the first section, Memory, the work focuses on my interpretation of memories, both familial and personal. The second section, titled Erasure, interprets how the memories in the first section impacted my life and my conception of self. Even though some of the poems in the second section are less autobiographical or more fantastic, they are all reflective of my identity, the pieces of my memory that I have re-imagined or buried. Memory/Erasure began years ago. Pieces of the volume have existed, in one form or another, for nearly five years. The work represents many aspects of my life, growing up Southern Baptist, having a mother who suffers from mental illness, a father who never quite understood me, and being a homosexual man. I believe that all of these elements are highly relatable to the reader, whoever that individual may be. Many of the pieces in the volume are experimental, playing with form and spacing. Poetry, as a genre, continues to grow in new and unexpected ways, and Memory/Erasure represents a fusion of more traditional forms and lines with experimental breaks and spacing. Throughout the work, there are many themes or motifs present. A large number of the poems deal heavily in religious imagery due to my Southern Baptist upbringing. These poems embody much of the struggle I faced when I came out. Another major motif of the work is water. Of course, water has plenty of ties to the Christian faith, including baptism. However, water also represents a catharsis for me, a means by which to collect scattered thoughts, to recover that which has been lost."--Abstract.