Rallies in support of civil rights aroused in a young beatnik a keen awareness of the fight against the establishment, but they also soon made him see that more than direct actions, it was important to build a critical political thinking that would lead to real structural change. With this in mind Mike Davis, who had worked as a truck and bus driver and as a butcher, went back to school and began an activism through academe that he never backed down from until his death last 25 October. A blue-collar worker turned into a sociologist, Davis wrote countless articles and essays in which the urban theme figured prominently, and which, including his City of Quartz, are today essential references for anyone eager to acquire an understanding of the conflictive dynamics of his native state of California.[+]