title: Smogtown: The Lung-Burning History of Pollution in Los Angeles
author:  Chip Jacobs 
description: Encapsulating deftly the worldview, historical context, and public psychology of Southern Californians over a number of decades, Los Angeles journalists Jacobs and Kelly examine the approaches they've made to the region's chronic pollution issues, many of which presage current, nation-wide trends in both pollution and its "greening." with casual language and a cinematic sense of the dramatic, Jacobs and Kelly detail the buildup to the famous orange-brown L.A. smog of the 1950s and '60s: "Just at that moment, the beast started to evolve... Sometime in the late 1950s, legend had it that a hen laid an egg that L.A. pollution unaccountably turned green." Highlighting the pioneering people and groups that blazed the trail for the environmental movement, jacobs and kelly also explore the progress and setbacks established by policymakers, including a famously conflicted Ronald Reagan. Finished with a particularly powerful, forward-looking epilogue, this friendly, accessible history should appeal to any American environmentalist. 15 b &amp; w photos. <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  Praise for Chip Jacobs
  
  
  Smogtown
  
  
  “[A] remarkably entertaining and informative chronicle of the birth and—so
  far—inexorable evolution of smog.…This book is just amazing, a gripping story
  well told.”
  
  
  —Booklist (starred review and one of the top  
  environmental books of the year)
  
  
  “Style delivers substance in true Hollywood fashion, with character-driven
  plots draped in glamour and sensation…the history of smog has never been so
  sexy.”
  
  
  —Los Angeles Times
  
  
  “[An] environmental page-turner.”—Kirkus Reviews
  
  
  The People’s Republic of Chemicals
  
  
  “[The authors] do an outstanding job of showing the causes and effects of the
  interdependency between American consumers and Chinese manufacturers. The
  result is a well-rounded portrait.”
  
  
  —Foreword Reviews (five-star review and among best  
  climate change solution books)
  
  
  “The Smogtown authors return with a look at China’s air pollution problem, and
  it is a doozy.…T