California (a History)

By Kevin Starr

Book Overview

California has always been our Shangri-la-the promised land of countless pilgrims in search of the American Dream. Now the Golden State's premier historian, Kevin Starr, distills the entire sweep of California's history into one splendid volume. From the age of exploration to the age of Arnold, this is the story of a place at once quintessentially American and utterly unique.

Arguing that America's most populous state has always been blessed with both spectacular natural beauty and astonishing human diversity, Starr unfolds a rapid-fire epic of discovery, innovation, catastrophe, and triumph.

For generations, California's native peoples basked in the abundance of a climate and topography eminently suited to human habitation. By the time the Spanish arrived in the early sixteenth century, there were scores of autonomous tribes were thriving in the region. Though conquest was rapid, nearly two centuries passed before Spain exerted control over upper California through the chain of missions that stand to this day.

The discovery of gold in January 1848 changed everything. With population increasing exponentially as get-rich-quick dreamers converged from all over the world, California reinvented itself overnight. Starr deftly traces the successive waves of innovation and calamity that have broken over the state since then-the incredible wealth of the Big Four railroad tycoons and 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 heroic irrigation and transportation projects that have altered the face of the region; the role of labor, both organized and migrant, in key industries from agriculture to aerospace.

Kevin Starr has devoted his career to the history of his beloved state, but he has never lost his sense of wonder over California's sheer abundance and peerless variety. This one-volume distillation of a lifetime's work gathers together everything that is most important, most fascinating, and most revealing about our greatest state.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081297753X
• ISBN13: 9780812977530
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: Modern Library
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Well-written, concise, entertaining

Some of the reviewers here seem have an obvious political or regional axe to grind, and I would read their reviews accordingly. I found this to be an informative and highly entertaining overview of California history. I thought the author generally made good calls as to what was important and/or entertaining enough to include. Guess what? A three hundred page overview won't be exhaustive. But if you're interested in the subject, I suspect this book will whet your appetite for more.

Terrific, Concise, Intelligent

Well paced, well told, and easily understood. If you want to know the history of the state this should be the first book in you endeavor.

Thematic distillation of a life's work

If you want a one volume discourse on the issues that have driven the history of California, this is the place to start. This book is a thematic distillation of Kevin Starr's lifetime of work. The story is only roughly chronological; each chapter has its own theme, and although each theme is prominent during a particular time, each theme has origins and repercussions. It also means that Starr only covers what he thinks is relevant to these themes. I think this is what makes a lot of people upset. Some things are not as important as others and this is Starr's (well researched and respected) interpretation. This is why Sacramento and WWI are barely mentioned. Also, I think his balance between Northern and Southern California is just about right. Southern California was a backwater until Hollywood and WWII. Its phenomenal growth is covered in this book. It is unfortunate that there are so many minor factual errors: wrong dates, technical terms, etc. It appears that Starr did not have a good editor for this book. I hope they will be corrected for the second edition. However, these errors are minor, dates are off by a few years or months, not decades, and to a non-specialist a 60 inch telescope is a 60 inch telescope. I also regret the lack of maps and illustrations, but this seems to be a trend in recent history books and I think is a feature of the series (one volume, inexpensive histories). In this case, get a AAA or Rand McNally map of California. and look up the pictures online. As others have commented, asking for a complete one volume history of California is asking for too much. If you want a simple chronological history, get a 4th grade textbook. Or you could try Oscar Lewis' books, mostly out of print but still quite readable. If you want more, try Starr's multi-volume history of California (also thematic, not chronological). Start with Inventing the Dream: California through the Progressive Era, although Americans and the California Dream, 1850-1915 starts earlier, it is really more about the image of California and how that has shaped its history. I was raised in the Bay Area and have lived here most of my life. I also used to give tours of San Francisco through City Guides (free tours sponsored by the Library), so I have both personal knowledge and reading experience.

Perahps the Best Single Volume History of the State

Just the name California brings up images in our minds. They may be of the big Hollywood sign, the Watts riots, the gigantic redwood trees, the pacific ocean, the images run on and on. In this book, Mr. Starr gives a history beginnning with the first mention of the name in a 1510 book where it was stated that California was an island. From there he has written perhaps the best single volume history of the state yet written. He has pictured California with all its greatness, and with its problems. He talks about the beauty, the climate, the life that California provides. He also mentions the soaring housing prices, grid-locked freeways, poor state government and more. It's a fair look at the state as it exists today and as it was in the past. Mr. Starr is a professor at USC and for ten years was the state librarian. He has written many time of California, this is the distillation of a lifetime of work.