<div>Since the 1980s, Los Angeles has become the most racially and economically divided city in the United States. In the poorest parts of South Central Los Angeles, buildings in disrepair&mdash;the legacy of racial unrest. Moving beyond stereotypes of South Central's predominantly African American residents, Jo&atilde;o H. Costa Vargas recounts his almost two years living in the district. Personal, critical, and disquieting, <i>Catching Hell in the City of Angels</i> examines the ways in which economic and social changes in the twentieth century have affected the black community, and powerfully conveys the experiences that bind and divide its people.<br> <br> Through compelling stories of South Central, including his own experience as an immigrant of color, Vargas presents portraits of four groups. He talks daily with women living in a low-income Watts apartment building; works with activists in a community organization against police brutality; interacts with former gang members trying to maintain a 1992 truce between the Bloods and the Crips; and listens to amateur jazz musicians who perform in a gentrified section of the neighborhood. In each case he describes the worldviews and the definitions of &ldquo;blackness&rdquo; these people use to cope with oppression. Vargas finds, in turn, that blackness is a form of racial solidarity, a vehicle for the renewal of African American culture, and a political expression of revolutionary black nationalism. <br> <br> Vargas reveals that the social fault lines in South Central reflect both contemporary disparities and long-term struggles. In doing so, he shows both the racialized power that makes &ldquo;blackness&rdquo; a prized term of identity and the terrible price that African Americans have paid for this emphasis. Ultimately, <i>Catching Hell in the City of Angels </i>tells the story of urban America through the lives of individuals from diverse, overlapping, and vibrant communities. <br> <br> Jo&atilde;o H. Costa Vargas is assistant professor in the Center for African and African American Studies and the department of anthropology at the University of Texas, Austin. <br> <br> Robin D. G. Kelley is the William B. Ransford Professor of Cultural and Historical Studies at Columbia University. He is the author of numerous books, including <i>Yo Mama's Disfunktional: Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America.</i></div>