io9
Sure it's cool to destroy New York, but it's even cooler to destroy Los Angeles. That's why Omega Man, the 1970s version of I Am Legend, took place in Los Angeles. Viral decimation is only one of the many ways LA has been crushed, according to a 1998 book by Mike Davis, Ecology of Fear, in which the irascible social critic gives us a helpful list of how LA is destroyed in 145 scifi/disaster novels. Of course nukes top the list, with a whopping 49 books wiping out LA in a big blast. But you'll be surprised by some of the lesser-known forms of LA-elimination.
Here is Davis' list of ways LA is destroyed in literature, with number of occurrences, for your contemplation:
Nukes, 49
Earthquakes, 28
Hordes (invasion), 10
Monsters, 10
Pollution, 7
Gangs/terrorism, 6
Floods, 6
Plagues, 6
Comets/tsunami, 5
Cults, 3
Volcanoes, 2
Firestorms, 2
Drought, 1
Blizzard, 1
Devil, 1
Freeway, 1
Riot, 1
Fog, 1
Slide, 1
Bermuda grass, 1
Global warming, 1
Sandstorm, 1
"Everything," 1
Needless to say, Davis moved out of LA to Hawaii several years ago.
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