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Sociologist Neil Gong explains why mental health treatment in Los Angeles rarely succeeds, for the rich, the poor, and everyone in between.ABOUT THE BOOKIn 2022, Los Angeles became the US county with the largest population of unhoused people, drawing a stark contrast with the wealth on display in its opulent neighborhoods. In Sons, Daughters, and Sidewalk Psychotics, sociologist Neil Gong traces the divide between the haves and have-nots in the psychiatric treatment systems that shape the life trajectories of people living with serious mental illness. In the decades since the United States closed its mental hospitals in favor of non-institutional treatment, two drastically different forms of community psychiatric services have developed: public safety-net clinics focused on keeping patients housed and out of jail, and elite private care trying to push clients toward respectable futures.In Downtown Los Angeles, many people in psychiatric crisis only receive help after experiencing homelessness or arrests. Public providers engage in guerrilla social work to secure them housing and safety, but these programs are rarely able to deliver true rehabilitation for psychological distress and addiction. Patients are free to refuse treatment or use illegal drugs--so long as they do so away from public view.Across town in West Read More ...

Lydia Abarca Mitchell, Sheila Rohan, Marcia Lynn Sells, Karlya Shelton-Benjamin with Karen ValbyJoin us for an in-person Live Talks Los Angeles event:Wednesday, May 15, 2024, 8pmAn Evening with The Swans of HarlemLydia Abarca Mitchell, Sheila Rohan, Marcia Lynn Sells, Karlya Shelton-Benjamin and Karen Valbydiscussing Karen Valby's book,The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History$20 General Admission ticket$48 General Admission ticket + book with signed book plateBook plate signed by the four ballerinas and the author of the bookFree parking at the venueASL interpreter arrangements made upon request (48 hrs advance notice)The forgotten story of a pioneering group of five Black ballerinas and their fifty-year sisterhood, a legacy erased from history—until now.“This is the kind of history I wish I learned as a child dreaming of the stage!” —Misty Copeland, author of Black Ballerinas: My Journey to Our LegacyThe forgotten story of a pioneering group of five Black ballerinas, the first principals in the Dance Theatre of Harlem, who traveled the world as highly celebrated stars in their field and whose legacy was erased from history until now.At the height of the Civil Rights movement, Lydia Abarça was a Black prima Read More ...

Join acclaimed author Tracie McMillan for a conversation about her highly anticipated new book, "The White Bonus"Join acclaimed author Tracie McMillan for a conversation about her highly anticipated new book, "The White Bonus: Five Families and the Cash Value of Racism in America."McMillan, whose previous book was the bestseller "The American Way of Eating," will be joined by author and columnist Erin Aubry Kaplan for a lively discussion of how race influences economic status in the U.S.Preorder book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-white-bonus-five-families-and-the-cash-value-of-racism-in-america-tracie-mcmillan/19987573?ean=9781250619426Light refreshments will be provided.