California

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 From the Hardcover edition. Download California Author Kevin Starr – kino-fada.fr Returning to my home state after a 12 year exile, I realized the last time I d studied California history was in the fourth grade Kevin Starr s slim volume was just what I needed to catch myself up 344 pages is by no means enough for a truly comprehensive history, but Starr deftly surveys the development of the state from Native American enclave and figure of Spanish legend into the behemoth it is today, while simultaneously tracing the artistic, scientific, political and social threads that m Returning to my home state after a 12 year exile, I realized the last time I d studied California history was in the fourth grade Kevin Starr s slim volume was just what I needed to catch myself up 344 pages is by no means enough for a truly comprehensive history...A little dry Filled with lists of people artists, politicians, etc I need ainteresting history of CA to read.This book is like an encyclopedia on California This is both a good thing and a bad thing The bad thing is that there is little continuity, it goes from one piece of history to the next with little structure other than that ...California A History is one of those special nonfiction histories that reads like a novel Fast, beautifully written, and captivating It s a great read for California citizens and non citizens alike After moving to the state recently and knowing little of its history, Starr s book served as a fast paced primer Nonresident fans of American history will appreciate the story not because they ll know who so many SF streets are named after, but as reminder that New Eng...In the notes of this book, Kevin Starr comments on his initial hesitation about how successful a one volume history of the state of California could be After reading California A History, I think his first inclination was correct There s a lot to say about California s colourful history, and I...This a book I ve been meaning to read for some time but non fiction is always a hard sell in terms of getting me to actually pick it up Generally, I prefer to listen to this type of thing as an audiobook Given the topic, I decided to take it on my recent cross country drive, which started with an eight hour drive through the state I have to say I was a little disappointed If you don t know Kevin Starr, he is a historian who produced a seven book chronological series about Americans and the C This a book I ve been meaning to read for some time but non fiction is always a hard sell in terms of getting me to...It s rare that I ever get bored from reading history But at times this book was hard to get through Perhaps it was the endless list of names without much backstory or narrative or perhaps it was the author s dry writing style There were moments such as when Starr was describing the gold rush or the American annexation of California when it livened up and it feltlike a story rather than listing names of famous men The book ends with Starr falling all over himself with praise for the ele It s rare that I ever get bored from reading history But at times this book was hard to get through Perhaps it was the endless list of names without much backstory or narrative or perhaps it was the author s dry writing style There were moments such as when Starr was describing the gold r...This is a good book to learn about the history of California since it was first discovered by the Europeans, to becoming a state of the United States, to current times It doesn t go into detail for things that aren t necessary, and it covers many aspects...The author covers a lot of ground in only 344 pages I appreciated the major theme of regret in the California promise over the centuries the shadow along with the sunshine the diversity and the xeonphobia There was some material about the process of becoming a state of w...To understand a people you have to understand their history This book is compelling and interesting and unfolds that history first era by era and then in the last century topic by topic Finally an afterword on the first decade and a half of the 21st centur...

• English
• 07 November 2018
Kevin Starr
• Paperback
• 416 pages
• 081297753X
• Kevin Starr
• California