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[[File:9780806159041.jpg|2500px|thumb|left|250px|''Colonial Intimacies: Interethnic Kinship, Sexuality, and Marriage in Southern California, 1769-1885'']] Erika Pérez, ''Colonial Intimacies: Interethnic Kinship, Sexuality, and Marriage in Southern California, 1769-1885'' (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2018). In this book, Pérez explores colonization and power through intimate relationships. She explains how everyday interactions illuminate larger ideas about the colonial projects that frame them. Pérez also looks at the children produced through these interethnic relationships to explain how their experiences with colonialism were different than their parents'--and that this was often related to their sex, and what economic opportunities they might have. This is one of the more recent books on this list, yet it covers the earliest period, chronologically. Those who are interested in the history of imperialism or colonialism may be interested in this book.
Daniel Hurewitz, ''Bohemian Los Angeles and the Making of Modern Politics'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008). If you read this book with George Chauncey's ''Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940'' you would have a thorough understanding of the pre-Civil Rights Movement history of the gay community on the East and West coasts. Hurewitz uncovers the story of this movement from a group of artists, leftists, and gay men and women who, together, began to formulate ideas that we might now call "identity politics." This book uses an assortment of records to tell this story, and Hurewitz argues that the legacy of these people is still significant in American politics today.
[[File:9780520246676.jpg|150px250px|thumb|left| ''Whitewashed Adobe: The Rise of Los Angeles and the Remaking of its Mexican Past'']] William F. Deverell, ''Whitewashed Adobe: The Rise of Los Angeles and the Remaking of its Mexican Past'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004). In focusing on several key points in Los Angeles history, Deverell explores the process through which Los Angeles became modern, white, and American. Deverell argues that this process took place from the late 19th century through the early 20th century and occurred through the selective erasure and obliteration of its Mexican past. If you're interested in the history of memory, this book provides a fascinating perspective on how places are remembered, or how histories of places are created.
[[File:9780520248113.jpg|150px|thumbthumbnail|left|250px|''Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight: Fear and Fantasy in Suburban Los Angeles'']] Eric Avila, ''Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight: Fear and Fantasy in Suburban Los Angeles'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006) and Genevieve Carpio, ''Collissions at the Crossroads: How Place and Mobility Make Race'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2019). [[File:9780520298835.jpg|150px|thumb|right]] These two books are side-by-side and complement each other in specific ways. Carpio explores how mobility helped to define race by looking at specific ordinances and policies. Race often determined how easily one was able to move in and out of specific spaces. At the same time, Avila's work explores the racialization of ''public'' entertainment after World War II. Both books speak to the racialization of space--whether that is the suburbs, Disneyland, or boarding schools.
George J. Sanchez, ''Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995). In this groundbreaking work, Sanchez explains the formation of Mexican identity in Los Angeles the first half of the 20th century. Sanchez traces this process by looking at the lives of Mexican immigrants to the city and follows the identity of these individuals from migrant to eventually resident. Sanchez explores Mexican Americans' adaptation, accommodation, and resilience through religion, kinship, and consumerism. Of note is Sanchez's exploration of this topic during the Repatriation campaign of the Depression. If you are interested in Latino historiography, this book should be at the top of your list.
