The Book Prize Index

Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles

David L. Ulin

"Sidewalking is an impressionistic take on Los Angeles in its current moment, which is a flashpoint of great transition, as the city verticalizes and densifies. It is also a meditation on the history, natural and human, of a place that often is derided as having no sense of its own past. What does it mean to live in, and think about Los Angeles at the level of its streets? Growing out of a series of walks, Sidewalking peels back the myths, the layers, to look at the city as it really is"--Provided by publisher.

Travel & PlaceTravel & Place · high confidenceTravel & Place81 signalsLlm Classifier: Travel & Place -> Travel & PlaceOpen Library: Description and travel -> Travel & PlaceOpen Library: Los angeles (calif.), description and travel -> Travel & PlaceEssays & Cultural CriticismHousing, Cities & Urban LifeTravel, Exploration & Place

Award History

0 wins · 1 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay2016FinalistSecondary source
View all award history (1)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.

  1. 01 Central figures

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  2. 02 Central places

    • Los Angeles92%

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    Sidewalking interprets Los Angeles by walking its streets to peel back myths and layers, using the city’s physical present and its natural and human history to understand what it means to live in and think about the place.

    Model confidence 67%

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    45 / 100 academic

    Trade / academic crossover

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 74%.