Long before Mike Davis won MacArthur and Lannan awards for his writing, he drove trucks through channelized riverbeds, through affluent neighborhoods delivering toys and furniture, and through the have-and-have-not communities of Los Angeles that would inspire his later writings. That truck-driving career, which started during his junior year in high school when his father had a heart attack, would begin Davis’ career as a mobility professional. Those formative experiences as a Southern California mobility professional informed the socioeconomic commentary at the heart of City of Quartz, Ecology of Fear, Planet of Slums and Buda's Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb.

Davis passed away in late 2022. Join Mobility Matters Host Tyler Reeb and guest Mike Sonksen, a Los Angeles-based educator, journalist, and poet, as they discuss the indelible imprint that Davis has left on American letters and his incisive commentary on American mobility.