At its most lively, this book provides an intelligent insider's account of the construction of Progressive Los Angeles Network, or PLAN, and the emergence of a powerful labor-Latino bloc that provides progressive L.A. with much of its heart and soul. But the book offers readers more, including details of a grassroots-driven progressive agenda and a revealing social and political history. L.A.'s social and political history, including the collapse of the old civic elite, the failure of top-down agenda-setting during the 1990s and the collapse of heavy industry, set the stage for a progressive revival in the late 1990s... "The Next Los Angeles" provides a good starting point for any serious student of forward-looking municipal politics.