Age Group:
AdultsProgram Description
Event Details
2023 is the 20th anniversary of the publication of Under the Perfect Sun: The San Diego Tourists Never See
Join authors and San Diego City College professors Kelly Mayhew and Jim Miller for a 20th anniversary discussion of the book and its findings. Under the Perfect Sun is the book on San Diego history unlike any previously written, presenting an alternative civic history of the city which "deconstructs the mythology of 'America's finest city' and exposes its true undergirdings of militarism, municipal corruption, racism, and economic inequality". Moderated by UCSD professor of history, Daniel Widener.
This program will be livestreamed. Visit HERE.
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Professors Mayhew and Miller, along with recently deceased co-author and urban theorist Mike Davis document the secret history of the city’s domineering elites, chronicle the history of protest in San Diego, and forefronts the voices of paradise's forgotten working people, the experiences of residents of color, and new immigrants.
Program Speakers
Dr. Kelly Mayhew is a professor of English, Humanities, and Gender Studies at San Diego City College, where she also coordinates the Honors Program, the Labor Studies Program, and the PATH Program. She is proud union member, long-time educator and advocate of youth. In addition to Under the Perfect Sun, Dr. Mayhew is the co-author with Jim Miller of Better to Reign in Hell: Inside the Raiders Fan Empire and co-editor with Jim Miller of Sunshine/Noir II: Writing from San Diego and Tijuana. She is a founding member of City Works Press, a progressive, all-volunteer non-profit publishing project housed at City College.
Dr. Jim Miller is the author of the novels Last Days in Ocean Beach, Flash and Drift. In addition to Under the Perfect Sun, he is also co-author with Kelly Mayhew of Better to Reign in Hell: Inside the Raiders Fan Empire, and co-editor with Kelly Mayhew of Sunshine/Noir II: Writing from San Diego and Tijuana, and editor of Democracy in Education; Education for Democracy: An Oral History of the American Federation of Teachers, Local 1931,1969-2006. He has published poetry, fiction, and non-fiction in a wide range of journals and other publications and has a weekly column in Words and Deeds as well as a monthly Community Voices column in the San Diego Union-Tribune. Dr. Miller teaches English, Humanities and Labor Studies at San Diego City College. He’s a founding member of City Works Press, a progressive, all-volunteer non-profit publishing project housed at City College.