LOS ANGELES has always been a place of paradisal promise and apocalyptic undercurrents. Writers Simone de Beauvoir saw a kaleidoscopic "hall of mirrors," Aldous Huxley a "city of dreadful joy." Jack Kerouac found a "huge desert encampment," David Thomson imagined "Marilyn Monroe, fifty miles long, lying on her side, half-buried on a ridge of crumbling rock." Lured by its seductive surfaces and puzzling paradoxes, writers in little over 100 years created a Los Angeles literature that is fascinating, powerful, pleasurable, and unlike any other in the world.

In Writing Los Angeles, The Library of America presents a glittering panorama—in fiction, poetry, essays, journalism, and diaries by more than seventy writers—of America's provocative city of dreams. Here, in convenient e-book form, is a sampling of what you will find in the volume. D. J. Waldie, author of Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir, describes Chevron's real estate division. Artist David Hockney chronicles applying for a driver's license. Saxophonist Art Pepper describes club Alabam, "the epitome of Central Avenue."

This E-Sampler is available in three formats: Adobe eBook for Windows and MacOS computers; Microsoft Reader for Windows, Windows CE, and PocketPC computers; and MobiPocket for PalmOS devices. After you have installed an e-book reader for your computer or device, follow these links to download the Writing Los Angeles E-Sampler.

Download E-Sampler

NB. Please refer to your e-book reader's documentation for instructions on how to install the Writing Los Angeles E-Sampler once you have downloaded one of the files above. Although the Adobe eBook version of the sampler may be viewed with Adobe Acrobat Reader, we recommend the eBook reader for on-screen reading.