California History

California: A History (Modern Library Chronicles)

By Kevin Starr

Starr, Kevin
Released: 2007-03-13
Paperback (416 pages)

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“A California classic . . . California, it should be remembered, was very much the wild west, having to wait until 1850 before it could force its way into statehood. so what tamed it? Mr. Starr’s answer is a combination of great men, great ideas and great projects.”—The Economist

From the age of exploration to the age of Arnold, the Golden State’s premier historian distills the entire sweep of California’s history into one splendid volume. Kevin Starr covers it all: Spain’s conquest of the native peoples of California in the early sixteenth century and the chain of missions that helped that country exert control over the upper part of the territory; the discovery of gold in January 1848; the incredible wealth of the Big Four railroad tycoons; the devastating San Francisco earthquake of 1906; the emergence of Hollywood as the world’s entertainment capital and of Silicon Valley as the center of high-tech research and development; the role of labor, both organized and migrant, in key industries from agriculture to aerospace. In a rapid-fire epic of discovery, innovation, catastrophe, and triumph, Starr gathers together everything that is most important, most fascinating, and most revealing about our greatest state.

Praise for California

“[A] fast-paced and wide-ranging history . . . [Starr] accomplishes the feat with skill, grace and verve.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Kevin Starr is one of california’s greatest historians, and California is an invaluable contribution to our state’s record and lore.”—MarIa ShrIver, journalist and former First Lady of California

“A breeze to read.”—San Francisco

Historical Atlas of California: With Original Maps

By Derek Hayes

University of California Press
Hardcover (256 pages)

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University of California Press

Product Description:

Using nearly five hundred historical maps and many other illustrations―from rough sketches drawn in the field to commercial maps to beautifully rendered works of art―this lavishly illustrated volume is the first to tell the story of California's past from a unique visual perspective. Covering five hundred years of history, it offers a compelling and informative look at the transformation of the state from before European contact through the Gold Rush and up to the present. The maps are accompanied by a concise, engaging narrative and by extended captions that elucidate the stories and personalities behind their creation. At once a valuable reference and an exhilarating adventure through history, the Historical Atlas of California, featuring many rare and unusual maps, will be a treasured addition to any library. Distilling an enormous amount of information into one volume, it presents a fascinating chronicle of how California came to be what it is today.

Copub: Douglas & McIntyre

The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California

By Mark Arax

Knopf
Released: 2019-05-21
Hardcover (576 pages)

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"[An] exhaustive, deeply reported account . . . Few other journalists could have written a book as personal and authoritative . . . As Arax makes plain in this important book, it's been the same story in California for almost two centuries now: When it comes to water, 'the resource is finite. The greed isn't.'" --Gary Krist, The New York Times Book Review

A vivid, searching journey into California's capture of water and soil--the epic story of a people's defiance of nature and the wonders, and ruin, it has wrought

Mark Arax is from a family of Central Valley farmers, a writer with deep ties to the land who has watched the battles over water intensify even as California lurches from drought to flood and back again. In The Dreamt Land, he travels the state to explore the one-of-a-kind distribution system, built in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, that is straining to keep up with California's relentless growth.

This is a heartfelt, beautifully written book about the land and the people who have worked it--from gold miners to wheat ranchers to small fruit farmers and today's Big Ag. Since the beginning, Californians have redirected rivers, drilled ever-deeper wells and built higher dams, pushing the water supply past its limit.

The Dreamt Land weaves reportage, history and memoir to confront the "Golden State" myth in riveting fashion. No other chronicler of the West has so deeply delved into the empires of agriculture that drink so much of the water. The nation's biggest farmers--the nut king, grape king and citrus queen--tell their story here for the first time.
This is a tale of politics and hubris in the arid West, of imported workers left behind in the sun and the fatigued earth that is made to give more even while it keeps sinking. But when drought turns to flood once again, all is forgotten as the farmers plant more nuts and the developers build more houses.

Arax, the native son, is persistent and tough as he treks from desert to delta, mountain to valley. What he finds is hard earned, awe-inspiring, tragic and revelatory. In the end, his compassion for the land becomes an elegy to the dream that created California and now threatens to undo it.

The Great Book of California: The Crazy History of California with Amazing Random Facts & Trivia (A Trivia Nerds Guide to the History of the United States) (Volume 3)

By Bill O'Neill

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Paperback (182 pages)

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Are you interested in learning more about California? Sure, you've heard of Hollywood, but how much do you really know about the Golden State? Do you know how it got its nickname or what it was nicknamed first? There's so much to know about California that even people born in the state don't know it all. In this trivia book, you'll learn more about California's history, pop culture, folklore, sports, and so much more!

In The Great Book of California, you'll discover the answers to the following questions

Why is California called the Golden State?
What music genres started out in California?
Which celebrity sex icon's death remains a mystery?
Which serial killer once murdered in the state?
Which childhood toy started out in California?
Which famous fast-food chain opened its first location in the Golden State?
Which famous athletes are from California?

Whether you consider yourself a California state expert or you know nothing about the Golden State, you're bound to learn something new in each chapter. You'll be able to impress your college history professor or your friends during your next trivia night!

What are you waiting for? Get started to learn all there is to know about California!

Highway 99: The History of California's Main Street

By Stephen H. Provost

CRAVEN STREET
Released: 2017-09-15
Paperback (270 pages)

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CRAVEN STREET

Product Description:
Before it was a modern freeway, California’s State Highway 99 was “the main street of California,” a simple two-lane road that passed through the downtowns of every city between the Mexican border and the Oregon state line. Highway 99: The History of California’s Main Street turns back the clock to those days when a narrow ribbon of asphalt tied the state’s communities together, with classic roadside attractions and plenty of fun along the way.

Highway 99 documents the birth, growth, and transformation of the highway; the gas stations, motels, restaurants, and attractions that flourished and declined by the roadside; and the communities, personalities, and historical events that made their mark on the highway. From the migrations of the Dust Bowl to the birth of the Bakersfield Sound to the foundation of America’s fast-food culture, the history of California has happened around Highway 99, and Highway 99: The History of California’s Main Street brilliantly depicts that history.

Dreams of El Dorado: A History of the American West

By H. W. Brands

Basic Books
Released: 2019-10-22
Hardcover (544 pages)

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"Epic in its scale, fearless in its scope" (Hampton Sides), this balanced, authoritative, and masterfully told account of the American West from a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist sets a new standard as it sweeps from the California Gold Rush to the Texas Revolution and beyond.

In Dreams of El Dorado, H. W. Brands tells the thrilling, panoramic story of the settling of the American West. He takes us from John Jacob Astor's fur trading outpost in Oregon to the Texas Revolution, from the California gold rush to the Oklahoma land rush. He shows how the migrants' dreams drove them to feats of courage and perseverance that put their stay-at-home cousins to shame-and how those same dreams also drove them to outrageous acts of violence against indigenous peoples and one another. The West was where riches would reward the miner's persistence, the cattleman's courage, the railroad man's enterprise; but El Dorado was at least as elusive in the West as it ever was in the East.

Balanced, authoritative, and masterfully told, Dreams of El Dorado sets a new standard for histories of the American West.

California History for Kids: Missions, Miners, and Moviemakers in the Golden State, Includes 21 Activities (For Kids series)

By Katy S. Duffield

Chicago Review Press
Paperback (144 pages)

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The story of California is the story of dreamers—explorers, gold miners, immigrants, ranchers, moviemakers, farmers, and everyday Americans who headed west for a fresh start. The first native inhabitants arrived 9,000 years ago, ancestors of the tribes who would greet the Spanish in the 1700s. Father Junípero Serra later established a chain of missions along the coast, expanding European and Mexican influence. But when gold was discovered in 1848, the rush was on, and two short years later California became a state. After the gold ran out, other rushes followed, from agriculture to industry, Hollywood to Silicon Valley.

California History for Kids includes a time line of significant events, a list of historic sites to visit or explore online, and Web resources for further study. And to get a better idea of the scope of California history and the lives of its citizens, readers can:

* create a Chumash rock painting

* play the Miwok Hoop-and-Pole game

* bake and eat hardtack like a gold miner

* design a cattle brand

* decode a railroad cipher

* immortalize their handprints in plaster

* assemble an earthquake preparedness kit

* and more

Author Katy Duffield tells the rich story of the men and women who, despite challenges and occasional hardships, settled and built the vibrant cities and bountiful farms, ranches, and orchards of the Golden State.

An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873 (The Lamar Series in Western History)

By Benjamin Madley

YALE
Released: 2017-06-27
Paperback (520 pages)

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YALE

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The first full account of the government-sanctioned genocide of California Indians under United States rule

Between 1846 and 1873, California’s Indian population plunged from perhaps 150,000 to 30,000. Benjamin Madley is the first historian to uncover the full extent of the slaughter, the involvement of state and federal officials, the taxpayer dollars that supported the violence, indigenous resistance, who did the killing, and why the killings ended. This deeply researched book is a comprehensive and chilling history of an American genocide.

Madley describes pre-contact California and precursors to the genocide before explaining how the Gold Rush stirred vigilante violence against California Indians. He narrates the rise of a state-sanctioned killing machine and the broad societal, judicial, and political support for genocide. Many participated: vigilantes, volunteer state militiamen, U.S. Army soldiers, U.S. congressmen, California governors, and others. The state and federal governments spent at least $1,700,000 on campaigns against California Indians. Besides evaluating government officials’ culpability, Madley considers why the slaughter constituted genocide and how other possible genocides within and beyond the Americas might be investigated using the methods presented in this groundbreaking book.

Pacific Eldorado: A History of Greater California

By Thomas J. Osborne

Wiley-Blackwell
Paperback (434 pages)

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Wiley-Blackwell

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Osborne's work is the first history text to explore the sweep of California's past in relationship to its connections within the maritime world of the Pacific Basin.

Presents a provocative and original interpretation of the entire span of California history
Reveals how the area's Pacific Basin connections have shaped the Golden State's past
Refutes the widely held notion among historians that California was isolated before the onset of the American period in the mid-1800s
Represents the first text to draw on anthropologist Jon Erlandson's findings that California's first human inhabitants were likely prehistoric Asian seafarers who navigated the Pacific Rim coastline
Includes instructor resources in an online companion site: www.wiley.com/go/osborne

Competing Voices: A Critical History of Stockton, California

By Ronald Isetti

Outskirts Press
Paperback (578 pages)

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Competing Voices: A Critical History of Stockton, California, is the story of a city with an incredibly rich and diverse history. For too long, Stockton has suffered from bad press. Its recent history has been marred by negative headlines, and its last general history was published way back in 1880. But in author Ronald Isetti's hands, Stockton is given its due as a major player in California and American history.

The city was integral to American victories during World Wars I and II, and for the many major motion pictures filmed in Stockton, it has been nicknamed "Hollywood North." It produced a leading female titan of industry, the famous Tomato Queen, Tillie Lewis, and has elected the youngest mayor of a large city in the United States, African American Michael Tubbs. Isetti is a native of Stockton and earned his PhD in history from the University of California, Berkeley. In Competing Voices, he combines academic standards with popular appeal, offering a bottom-up perspective of Stockton history, considering ordinary citizens who did extraordinary things and covering minority groups often ignored in the past.

Related Links

California: A History (Modern Library Chronicles)

Historical Atlas of California: With Original Maps

The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California

The Great Book of California: The Crazy History of California with Amazing Random Facts & Trivia (A Trivia Nerds Guide to the History of the United States) (Volume 3)

Highway 99: The History of California's Main Street

Dreams of El Dorado: A History of the American West

California History for Kids: Missions, Miners, and Moviemakers in the Golden State, Includes 21 Activities (For Kids series)

An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873 (The Lamar Series in Western History)

Pacific Eldorado: A History of Greater California

Competing Voices: A Critical History of Stockton, California

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