Every year, as we approach the holidays, I look back over all the terrific books we’ve featured on AirTalk to pick my favorites for your gift-buying consideration. It’s a pleasure to recall these conversations with writers who’ve typically spent years researching their subjects. It’s also reassuring to know there’s such a strong market for books focused on our region. I hope you find a perfect recipient for one or more of these books with links to Southern California and the West!

Smog and Sunshine: The Surprising Story of How Los Angeles Cleaned Up Its Air

By Ann Carlson

(

University of California Press

)

I don’t think there’s any question that our greatest local environmental success is dramatically reducing air pollution. It wasn’t long ago our local mountains were obscured many more days than not. In this book, UCLA Law professor and former acting administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Ann Carlson explains how we made such a visible improvement. Unsurprisingly, she’s a strong believer in the power of governmental regulations to improve public health and safety. Carlson is also an outstanding writer and speaker and a frequent guest on AirTalk.

The Boundless Biddy Mason: An Odyssey From Slavery to Freedom Across the American West

By Kevin Waite

(

University of California Press

)

The former Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles was recently renamed for this giant of local history. Waite is a historian who was born and raised in Southern California and dedicated himself to revealing Mason’s accomplishments and formidable challenges. She was brought to California by a Southern slaveholder, won her freedom in a landmark court case and went on to become one of L.A.’s most prominent residents and landowners. Waite details the many ways Mason’s philanthropy and medical skills left a strong mark on late 19th- and early 20th-century Los Angeles.

Green Gold: The Avocado’s Remarkable Journey From Humble Superfood to Toast of a Nation

By Sarah Allaback and Monique F. Parsons

(

Counterpoint

)

The title says it all in this fascinating account of how we’ve ended up with the types of avocados now available and the central role our region has played in the fruit’s evolution. An Altadena nursery played a major part, as have our local groves stretching from Ventura to San Diego counties. This is for lovers of Southern California, the adaptability of agriculture and avocados themselves.

Strip Club Heiress: The Jet Strip, My Father’s Conviction, and the Murder of Mac McKenna

By Laurel Woods

(

Bloomsbury Academic

)

I vividly remember the day in 1989 when I was in the KPCC newsroom, and the wire service teletype started printing out the dramatic details of strip club operator “Big Mac” McKenna’s killing in front of his Fullerton mansion. The hit went unsolved for years, even as the clubs continued operating under the management of McKenna’s business partner, who is author Laurel Woods’ father. Laurel grew up around, and briefly managed, the Jet Strip near LAX. Here she details both what it was like growing up around adult entertainment and the shocking news of who arranged the murder-for-hire of her father’s business partner.

How to Rule the World: An Education in Power at Stanford University

By Theo Baker

(

Penguin Press

)

Baker wrote this exposé on the courting of Stanford’s most accomplished undergrads during his senior year! He’d just become the youngest recipient of the prestigious George Polk Award for his investigative journalism that led to the ousting of Stanford’s president. Here Baker details what he sees as a university in thrall to Silicon Valley venture capitalists. Baker’s parents are New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker and The New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser. Young Theo didn’t intend to become a journalist, but there doesn’t appear to be any going back. 

Dad Brain: The New Science of Fatherhood and How It Shapes Men’s Lives

By Darby Saxbe

(

Flatiron Books

)

Saxbe is a prominent researcher and professor of psychology at USC. She contends that the biological, psychological and social transformation of fatherhood has been neglected by researchers. Here, she explains how men’s hormones and sense of purpose shift when they become parents. Saxbe is a terrific AirTalk guest who’s skilled at detailing complex science in a very approachable way.

Forest of the Sea: The Remarkable Life and Imperiled Future of Kelp

By David Helvarg

(

Island Press

)

One of the pleasures of hosting AirTalk over such a long span is getting to talk with writers over a period of years as each of their books comes out. That’s the case with David Helvarg. This book is particularly timely, as we’re seeing the effects of the warming Pacific on our local weather and shoreline. This book focuses on how the largest kelp beds along the U.S. West Coast are being rapidly depleted by warmer water. Helvarg also details what the fascinating ecosystems of these massive beds are like.

The Distance Between Our Names: The Untold History of America’s War on Japanese Immigrants

By Paul Richter

(

Simon & Schuster

)

The longtime Los Angeles Times journalist left daily journalism to write books related to his national affairs expertise. Though here he recounts the well-known World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans, it’s the additional episodes of hostility that give a fuller account of the historic challenges faced by immigrants from Japan and their U.S.-born children. Much of Paul’s book tells the stories of Southern Californians who had to navigate shifting public and governmental sentiments about whether they were valued members of our community.

California Dreams: The Making and Remaking of the University of California

By Miriam Pawel

(

Bloomsbury Publishing

)

It’s easy for those of us who’ve grown up in California to take our system of higher education for granted. That’s as families around the world dream of the possibility that their child could be accepted by UC. In this book, the former L.A. Times reporter lays out how UC Berkeley was founded, the lobbying it took for UCLA to follow, and how the state’s master plan for higher education made the UC, Cal State system and community colleges the gold standard for building California’s workforce and innovation.

A Book: The Outspoken Memoirs of the Man Who “Loved Lucy” – And Revolutionized Television (Expanded Edition)

By Desi Arnaz

(

Running Adult Press

)

Originally published in 1976, Arnaz’s family has added material from Desi’s unpublished second memoir that goes deeper into his sophisticated thinking about the TV business and what audiences respond to. I particularly enjoyed what he wrote about his early musical career, which is often overlooked with the emphasis on his contributions to the sitcom format. His personality really comes through.