Summary

Chapter 20. Book titles that begin this chapter: Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders; Criteria for a Recommended Standard, Occupational Exposure to Hot Environments: Revised Criteria; Riots, U.S.A., 1765-1965 and Word and Image: History of the Hungarian Cinema.

This chapter summarizes the library’s history in the 1960’s – the deterioration of its physical structure which, according to Orlean, paralleled the deterioration of downtown Los Angeles, the result of large migrations of people and businesses to the city’s suburbs. “Los Angeles seemed to always be moving toward the eternal future; it was a city that shed memories before they had a chance to stick” (216). All this movement, Orlean adds, was connected to violent political, economic, and racial confrontations including the Watts Riots in 1965. “After Watts,” she adds, “there were spasms of violence of a different sort. The Manson Family...