Los Angeles: Metropolis despite Nature

My thesis argues that between 1880 and 1932 Los Angeles’ growth in the absence of natural geographic advantages was primarily due to its attractiveness to boosters, entrepreneurs, and capitalists. Through my thesis, I hope to demonstrate how Los Angeles was able to surmount and circumvent formidable environmental limitations and fuel an expansion built largely on the desire and ingenuity of its residents. Not nature's metropolis, Los Angeles is a metropolis despite nature, a marvel of imagination and engineering and greed.