History: Unknown Los Angeles (2009): Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books began in 1996 with a simple goal: to bring together the people who create books with the people who love to read them. The festival was an immediate success and has become the largest and most prestigious book festival in the country, attracting more than 130,000 book lovers each year.

William Deverell is director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West. He is the author of numerous studies on the history of California and the American West.

Frances Dinkelspiel is an award-winning journalist who spent more than 20 years in the newspaper business. Her first title, Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California, captures the life of her great-great grandfather Isaias Hellman.

Chip Jacobs has written for the Los Angeles Times, the Daily News and LA Weekly. Smogtown: The Lung-Burning History of Pollution in Los Angeles, written with William. J. Kelly, was published this year. Jacobs lives in Pasadena.

D. J. Waldie received the California Book Award for nonfiction for his book Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir. His latest work, California Romantica, was a Los Angeles Times best seller in 2007.