Murder at the Sleepy Lagoon: Zoot Suits, Race, and Riot in Wartime L.A.;

Pagán provides the first comprehensive social history of the "Sleepy Lagoon" murder trial and the Zoot Suit Riot that followed, arguing that they resulted from a volatile mix of racial and social tensions that had long been simmering. In reconstructing the lives of the murder victim and those accused of the crime, Pagán shows how demographic pressures, anxiety about nascent youth culture, and the war effort all contributed to the social tension and the eruption of violence.