| Making the San Fernando Valley: Rural Landscapes, Urban Development, and White Privilege Subjects: San Fernando Valley (Calif.) -- Race relations; Whites -- California -- San Fernando Valley -- History; San Fernando Valley (Calif.) -- Rural conditions; Landscapes -- Social aspects -- California -- San Fernando Valley -- History; San Fernando Valley (Ca; In the first book-length scholarly study of the San Fernando Valley--home to one-third of the population of Los Angeles--Laura R. Barraclough combines ambitious historical sweep with an on-theground investigation of contemporary life in this iconic western suburb. She is particularly intrigued by the Valley's many rural elements, such as dirt roads, tack-and-feed stores, horse-keeping districts, citrus groves, and movie ranches. Far from natural or undeveloped spaces, these rural characteristics are, she shows, the result of deliberate urbanplanning decisions that have shaped the Valley over the course of more than a hundred years. LAURA R. BARRACLOUGH is an assistant professor of sociology at Kalamazoo College. She is a native of the San Fernando Valley and received degrees from the University of Southern California and the University of California San Diego. |