Here's a page from Longitude, the specialty bookseller for travelers. To order online, and to see the latest, most comprehensive selection of books and maps, go to http://reading.longitudebooks.com/LO1281. You may also call 800-342-2164 to order or request a catalog.

These 5 items are available for $78, including U.S. shipping, a 15% discount (Item no. EXCAL38)

Rough Guide Los Angeles  •  J.D. Dickey GUIDEBOOK •  2006 •  PAPER  • 448 PAGES An opinionated, comprehensive travel guide in the British series, balancing practical information on where to go and what to do with a good overview of the culture and history of the region. (CAL154, $18.99)
Los Angeles A to Z, An Encyclopedia of the City and County  •  Leonard Pitt  •  Dale Pitt REFERENCE •  2000 •  PAPER  • 600 PAGES A big, handsomely produced reference and guide. The Pitt husband-and-wife team (Leonard a professor and Dale a freelance writer and editor) cover the personalities, history and complicated geography of the city in this helpful reference, a well organized and fascinating introduction filled with information not found in the typical tourist guides. Complemented by over 300 illustrations. (CAL20, $31.95)
Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster  •  Mike Davis NATURAL HISTORY •  1999 •  PAPER  • 484 PAGES A wild look at the multitude of environmental dangers that threaten Los Angeles. Davis details the possibilities and realities of floods, fires and earthquakes -- as well as the occasional attack from a swarm of killer bees. He centers his arguments on the fact that L.A. is too concerned with commercial growth, that it's a city whose design and development has not taken into account the ecological threats that surround it. (CAL18, $15.95)
Where I Was From  •  Joan Didion CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  2004 •  PAPER  • 240 PAGES Joan Didion's personal history of California spanning the 18th to 21st centuries. More than a family chronicle, it's also a provocative cultural critique that attacks the myth of the Sunshine State. (CAL153, $13.95)
Los Angeles Map  •  Rand McNally Maps MAP A map of Los Angeles and vicinity at a scale of 1:285,000. (CAL36, $4.95)

Los Angeles City Center Map  •  Borch Maps    •  A map of the center of L.A. (CAL37, $8.95)
Adventuring in the California Desert  •  Lynne Foster   • GUIDEBOOK  •  A guidebook for exploring the desert regions of Southern California. (CAL73, $18.95)
Fodor's Los Angeles' 25 Best  •  Fodor's   • GUIDEBOOK  •  A shirt-pocket guide to Los Angeles, this slim book includes an excellent map of the center of the city and essential information on its highlights. (USW186, $11.95)
Insight Guide Los Angeles  •  Insight Guides   • GUIDEBOOK  •  A colorful guide to L.A. (CAL19, $22.95)
Lonely Planet Los Angeles Encounter  •  Amy Balfour   • GUIDEBOOK  •  This lively shirt pocket guide to the city, jammed with personal recommendations and photographs, also includes a pull-out map. (CAL215, $11.99)
California Fault, Searching for the Spirit of a State Along the San Andreas  •  Thurston Clarke   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  A good natured portrait of the Golden State. (CAL33, $12.95)
California, A History  •  Kevin Starr   • HISTORY  •  A lively short history in the excellent Modern Library Chronicles series, written by a renowned historian. (CAL204, $14.95)
City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s  •  Otto Friedrich   • HISTORY  •  An engaging social history of Hollywood during the decline of the studio system. (CAL29, $25.95)
City of Quartz, Excavating the Future of Los Angeles  •  Mike Davis   • HISTORY  •  A grim portrait of racial, economic and social struggle in Los Angeles. (CAL146, $15.95)
The Fragmented Metropolis: Los Angeles, 1859-1930  •  Robert M. Fogelson  •  Robert Fishman   • HISTORY  •  A history of the early urban development of L.A. (CAL28, $22.95)
An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles  •  David Gebhard  •  Robert Winter   • ART & ARCHITECTURE  •  A newly revised edition of the classic architectural guide. (CAL147, $24.95)
Building the Getty  •  Richard Meier   • ART & ARCHITECTURE  •  An account of the construction of the Getty Center, written by it's architect. (CAL21, $25.95)
Palm Springs Weekend, The Architecture and Design of a Midcentury Oasis  •  Alan Hess  •  Andrew Danish   • ART & ARCHITECTURE  •  An attractive and insightful study of the architecture of Palm Springs. (CAL129, $40.00)
The J. Paul Getty Museum and Its Collections: A Museum for the New Century  •  John Walsh  •  Deborah Ann Gribbon   • ART & ARCHITECTURE  •  A well-illustrated overview of the J. Paul Getty Museum, it's history and varied collection of art, written by the museum's director and chief curator. With a chapter on J. Paul Getty's life. (CAL26, $40.00)
William Mulholland and the Rise of Los Angeles  •  Catherine Mulholland   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  A biography of William Mulholland, the man who led the project of bringing water to Los Angeles. Written by his granddaughter, who seeks to dispel what she believes are common misconceptions about him. (CAL31, $21.95)
The Literature of California, Vol. 1  •  Jack Hicks  •  Al Young  •  James D. Houston  •  Maxine Hong Kingston   • ANTHOLOGY  •  A best-of anthology of California writing, pre-1945. (CAL102, $24.95)
Ask the Dust  •  John Fante  •  Charles Bukowski   • LITERATURE  •  Fante's oft-forgotten classic novel of Arturo Bandini, trying to make it as a writer in L.A. (CAL14, $15.00)
L.A. Confidential  •  James Ellroy   • LITERATURE  •  James Ellroy's modern noir thriller, a densely plotted yarn in the style of Raymond Chandler. Made into a critically acclaimed film. (CAL35, $14.95)
The Big Sleep  •  Raymond Chandler   • LITERATURE  •  The classic crime novel from the master of the genre. Here is a journey into the dark underworld of 1930's Los Angeles. (CAL17, $13.95)
The Day of the Locust  •  Nathaniel West   • LITERATURE  •  West's attack on 1930s Hollywood. (CAL34, $6.99)
The Golden West, Hollywood Stories  •  Daniel Fuchs   • LITERATURE  •  This marvelous collection of stories and essays from Sunny California, many originally appearing in The New Yorker and Commentary, capture the spirit (and personalities) of Hollywood in the heyday of the studio era. (CAL188, $16.95)
The Hours  •  Michael Cunningham   • LITERATURE  •  A marvelous book -- deep, dark and full of hope, signed by the author. (NYC72, $23.00)
The Love of the Last Tycoon  •  Matthew J. Bruccoli  •  F. Scott Fitzgerald   • LITERATURE  •  Fitzgerald's unfinished novel, newly restored. (CAL16, $14.00)
An Island Called California, An Ecological Introduction to Its Natural Communities  •  Elna S. Bakker   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  An introduction to the ecology and wildlife of the Golden State, this volume is filled with photographs illustrating a variety plants, animals and geological features found throughout the deserts, forests and coastline of California. (CAL11, $22.95)
Assembling California  •  John McPhee   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  Another fine book on geology and natural history from John McPhee, this time in the company of Eldridge Moores, on travels throughout California. (USW187, $15.00)
Cadillac Desert, The American West and Its Disappearing Water  •  Marc Reisner   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  A definitive history of water development in the American desert -- and a now-classic chronicle of wrong-headed policies and misadventures controlling the great rivers of the West. (USW246, $18.00)
The Control of Nature  •  John McPhee   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  A bestseller in the classic McPhee tradition, this book explores our generally feeble attempts to combat all-powerful nature, including efforts by Icelanders to control the flow of a volcano. (NAT01, $16.00)
The Land of Little Rain  •  Mary Austin  •  Terry Tempest Williams   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  In this turn-of-the-century desert hymn, Austin -- a writer and naturalist who accompanied her husband to Death Valley in the 1890s -- finds a vibrant ecosystem where her forbears saw wasteland. An illuminating natural history. (CAL66, $13.00)
The Los Angeles River: Its Life, Death and Possible Rebirth  •  Blake Gumprecht   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  A history of the Los Angeles river and its role in the city in the past and future. (CAL32, $21.95)
Fishwatcher's Field Guide Baja California, Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Acapulco  •  Idaz Greenberg   • FIELD GUIDE  •  A double-sided, full color waterproof card. (BJA31, $7.50)
National Audubon Society Field Guide to California  •  Peter Alden   • FIELD GUIDE  •  A compact, easy-to-use guide to 1,000 of California's trees, wildflowers, mammals, insects, birds and other flora and fauna. (CAL07, $19.95)