Elements of Los Angeles: Earth, Water, Air, Fire

Acclaimed essayist D.J. Waldie turns his eyes to the elements of Los Angeles—earth, water, air and fire—exploring the foundations of the city with his trademark wisdom, elegance, and incisiveness.

Elements of Los Angeles, the third volume in D.J. Waldie’s trilogy of essay collections centered on his search for a sense of place in Los Angeles, evokes the classical elements of earth, water, air, and fire. In Where We Are Now, Becoming Los Angeles, and now in Elements of Los Angeles, Waldie has assembled a panorama of a city both tragic and intensely moving. Called “one of the most respected contemporary voices on life in Southern California,” by the New Yorker and “one of the most artful authors writing about Los Angeles today” by the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, Waldie elegantly blends history, memoir, and contemplative observation, providing a portrait of the elements that illuminates the city as a whole.

A writer whose books are a “gorgeous distillation of architectural and social history” (New York Times), D.J. Waldie is the author of the acclaimed Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir and other books about the everyday life in Southern California. In his essays and commentary, Waldie has sought to frame his experience of Los Angeles as a search for a sense of place.