Dreamers and Schemers, Barry Siegel
Dreamers and Schemers, Barry Siegel
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Dreamers and Schemers
How an Improbable Bid for the 1932 Olympics Transformed Los Angeles from Dusty Outpost to Global Metropolis

Author: Barry Siegel

Narrator: Charles Constant

Unabridged: 7 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 12/10/2019

Synopsis

Dreamers and Schemers chronicles how Los Angeles's pursuit and staging of the 1932 Olympic Games during the depths of the Great Depression helped fuel the city's transformation from a seedy frontier village to a world-famous metropolis. Leading that pursuit was the "Prince of Realtors," William May (Billy) Garland, a prominent figure in early Los Angeles. In important respects, the story of Billy Garland is the story of Los Angeles. After arriving in Southern California in 1890, he and his allies drove much of the city’s historic expansion in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Then, from 1920 to 1932, he directed the city's bid for the 1932 Olympic Games. Garland's quest to host the Olympics provides an unusually revealing window onto a particular time, place, and way of life. Reconstructing the narrative from Garland's visionary notion to its consequential aftermath, Barry Siegel shows how one man's grit and imagination made California history.

About Barry Siegel

Barry Siegel is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the author of eight books. Born in St. Louis and raised in Los Angeles, he joined the Los Angeles Times in 1976 as a staff writer and became a roving national correspondent in 1980. His articles have garnered dozens of honors, including the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing, two PEN Center USA West Literary Awards in Journalism, the Livingston Award for Young Journalists, and the American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award. In 2003, Siegel left the Los Angeles Times to become founding director of the literary journalism program at the University of California, Irvine. His books include the Chumash County trilogy of legal thrillers, the Edgar Award finalist A Death in White Bear Lake: The True Chronicle of an All-American Town, and Manifest Injustice: The True Story of a Convicted Murderer and the Lawyers Who Fought for His Freedom.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Blaine on March 08, 2020

What a great 5***** effort by Barry Siegel, who has put together a great history about the early years growth and urban planning in and about Los Angeles, and all of which has an eye on the 10th Olympiad in 1932. While not a complete biography of real estate promotor/salesman, Billy Garland, it is o......more

Goodreads review by LAPL on February 10, 2020

This book follows the machinations of Los Angeles real estate mogul William May Garland as he attempts to bring the 1932 Olympic Games to Los Angeles. Barry Siegel, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and UC Irvine Professor, rewards the reader with an enjoyable account of a winsome individual with......more

Goodreads review by Eugene on February 28, 2021

It was really great to see Billy Garland's perspective in the L.A. Games. He really endures a lot with the Great Depression and some lawsuits. He's a Renaissance man, as he picks up many trades and professions. The Games themselves are mostly good representations of sportsmanship, except two instanc......more

Goodreads review by Malcolm on May 24, 2020

Los Angeles’ 1932 Olympic games marked a significant shift in form and style; the second of 10 (although we should also include the 1906 Intercalated Games, so 11) to be held outside Europe, the first time there was an Olympic village (in this case as a depression era cost saving mechanism) and desp......more

Goodreads review by Rene on December 26, 2019

Brilliant writing by Barry Siegel in this well researched , interesting book about the wide open time of Los Angeles and its major boost in putting on the 1932 Olympics. Our protagonist is the whirlwind of a realtor named Billy Garland. Mr Garland is quite an operator, a right-winger who thought ever......more

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