I received the Carey McWilliams award at the annual meeting of the California Studies Association in late April. Here’s the speech: Carey McWilliams Award Presentation. As I said in the talk, it was particularly compelling to receive this award in Carey McWilliams’ name. Carey McWilliams, of course, is such an iconic figure as a writer activist and as the person you first go to to begin to understand California and the Southern California region. For me, it was also his role in helping get my first book (on the Los Angeles Times and the Chandler family) published. And it gave me the opportunity to discuss how some of our work at UEPI — on school food; global trade and freight traffic; and our participation in CicLAvia — connects to McWilliams’ own views about grass roots democracy.
Bob is Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Director of the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute. He is the author and co-author of twelve books and numerous other publications, including Food Justice with Anupama Joshi (MIT Press, 2010), Reinventing Los Angeles: Nature and Community in the Global City (MIT Press, 2007), The Next Los Angeles: The Struggle for a Livable City with Mark Vallianatos, Regina Freer and Peter Dreier (UC Press 2006); Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement (Island Press, 1993); A Life of its Own: The Politics and Power of Water (HBJ 1989), and Environmentalism Unbound: Exploring New Pathways for Change (MIT Press, 2001). He is also the editor of two MIT Press series, “Urban and Industrial Environments” and “Food, Health, and Environment.” A long time environmental and social justice activist, Bob Gottlieb has been engaged in researching and participating in social movements for more than 50 years.
