THE CALIFORNIA SYNDROME

Continuing his Westward Tilt of a few years ago, Mr. Morgan again projects the West and in this case California, as the testing ground of the future. In this broad, general, informed layman's analysis, the author discusses the history from which California's current ""putty culture"" evolved; the migration mania that results from today's mobile materialism. There is a lot of interesting general information on climate and topography from the Sierra Madre to the Mojave and the Grand Central Valley, ""larger than the total area of Denmark."" He goes into the personality of the cities--sprawling apologetic Los Angeles vs. pampered narcissistic San Francisco while San Diego has ""the best chance for becoming the city of tomorrow."" He touches on education and the Berkeley Belt, politics with its new, threatening campaign management; racism and the ""leisure activists"" from scuba to skiing. Although basically optimistic, he warns against the Californian's basic irresponsibility, complacency and lack of commitment. Certainly interesting enough to be read by at least some of the estimated 50,000,000 people who will find themselves part of The California Syndrome by the year 2000.