The docks / Bill Sharpsteen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sharpsteen, Bill, 1954-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Harbors--California--Los Angeles.

Harbors.

Stevedores--California--Los Angeles.

Stevedores.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (326 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Docks is an eye-opening journey into a giant madhouse of activity that few outsiders ever see: the Port of Los Angeles. In a book woven throughout with riveting novelist detail and illustrated with photographs that capture the frenetic energy of the place, Bill Sharpsteen tells the story of the people who have made this port, the largest in the country, one of the nation's most vital economic enterprises. Among others, we meet a pilot who parks ships, one of the first women longshoremen, union officials and employers at odds over almost everything, an environmental activist fighting air pollution in the "diesel death zone," and those with the nearly impossible job of enforcing security. Together these stories paint a compelling picture of a critical entryway for goods coming into the country-the Port of Los Angeles is part of a complex that brings in 40% of all our waterborne cargo and 70% of all Asian imports-yet one that is also extremely vulnerable. The Docks is a rare look at a world within our world in which we find a microcosm of the labor, environmental, and security issues we collectively face.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Illustrations

Preface

Introduction

1. Valet Parking

2. A Carpet of Containers

3. Moving Cans

4. The Landlord

5. The Diesel Death Zone

6. The Union

7. The Employers

8. The Importer

9. The Shipper

10. Los Troqueros

11. The Hold Men

12. The Women

13. The Clerk

14. Security

15. The New Normal

16. Hawse Piper

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612896033

9781282896031

1282896032

9780520947092

0520947096

OCLC:

698472658