Robert B. Gordon and Patrick M. Malone, Oxford University Press,
1994
Like most industrial archeology texts, this book focuses primarily
on historic industries and sites, mostly within the 19th century.
None the less, this is one of the best books on the subject.
Robert Dawson and Gray Brechin, University of California Press,
1999
Nice new big book on today's California. The volume roams
around the state looking for trouble (which it seems is easy
to find around here). Dawson's photographs depict places with
a satisfying geometric formality and often a sort of ironic
symmetry.
John E. Tuhy, Maverick Publications, 1992
Lots of color photos and straightforward text about the five
major civilian airliner storage sites in the USA (at Mojave,
California; Kingman, Marana, and Tucson, Arizona; and Las
Vegas). Interesting stories about individual aircraft (Rod
Stewarts's old Vickers Viscount still bears his name as it
rots away in Tucson) as well as unusual information about
the airline industry, such as the fact that sometimes brand
new aircraft are dispatched to desert storage sites where
they sit sometimes more than a year before being delivered.
Another gem from Motorbooks publishing
Albert P. Heiner, Halo Books, 1991
Written by a former public relations officer for Kaiser Steel,
this "insiders view" is full of celebratory tales of the life
of one of the "great industrialists" of this century. Anecdotal,
but sort of useful.
John E. Tuhy, Maverick Publications, 1992
The saying "What in the name of Sam Hill?" actually has nothing
to do with this guy (it allegedly is a much earlier exclamation),
however it fits with the many unlikely edifices constructed
by this romantic Victorian visionary of the Pacific Northwest,
who made such things as a replica of stonehenge on the Columbia
River, near the drive-thru chateau he built for the queen
of Romania, and the huge Peace Arch at the westernmost border
crossing of the USA and Canada. The book is a satisfying biography
of Sam's life and work.
Orrin H. Pilkey and Katherine L. Dixon, Island Press, 1996
An examination and critique (very negative, of course) of
the Army Corps of Engineers attempts to prevent erosion along
America's coastline. With case studies of a few East Coast
communities battling with the sea.
Bill Mann, Shortfuse Publishing, 1998
Bill Mann (aka Shortfuse - he's a former explosives distributor),
has been exploring the Mojave Desert for over 50 years. He
put together this book, volume 1, to tell of some of his favorite
discoveries in the desert over the years, which include geoglyphs,
petroglyphs, grave sites, ruins, and a few oddities. Each
site has directions and geographic coordinates.
Lucy Lippard, New Press, 1999
Another far-ranging, contemporary culture cruising odyssey
from Lucy Lippard. This one is a follow-up on last years Lure
of the Local, and it is an excellent anthology of thinking
on the "culture of tourism."
