Books: Ecology Of Fear

Los Angeles sees nearly twice as many twisters as Oklahoma City, traditionally regarded as Tornado Central! Once, 100 million mice descended on Taft, Calif. (pop. 5,000)! In 1995 L.A. became "the nation's capital of racial (539 crimes) and sexual orientation (338 crimes) violence"! And the recent rout of fires, riots and earthquakes should, by statistical rights, only increase. Furiously researched and slashingly argued, this book is a 30-bell alarm by L.A. obsessive Davis (City of Quartz), who contends that most of the "acts of God" that have wrought such destruction in that city are, in fact, the results of greed, myopia and Machiavellian politicking. Upholders of the status quo will take issue with Davis' provocations, but the facts and terrifying statistics marshaled here should have folks racing for the next plane to Seattle.

--By Pico Iyer