Description
Book SynopsisThe Octopus’s Garden continues to shape Southern Californians’ understanding of their past. In bringing together multiple storylines, Benjamin Jenkins provides a complex and fresh perspective on the impact of citrus agriculturalists and railroad companies in Southern Californian history.
Trade Review"In Octopus’s Garden, Jenkins has fashioned a worthy contribution to the history of both railroads and agriculture. Many beautiful illustrations complement Jenkins’s thoroughly researched and well-written text, which details how railroads and citrus culture together contributed to the social and economic transformation of Southern California."—Carlos Arnaldo Schwantes, St. Louis Mercantile Library Endowed Professor of Transportation Studies, emeritus, University of Missouri-St. Louis
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Octopus’s Garden
- 1. Southern California Country: History of the Southland, 1769-1876
- 2. Steel, Steam, and Citrus: The Economic Transformation of Southern California, 1870-1887
- 3. The Boom and Beyond, 1887-1903
- 4. Gridiron Garden, 1903-1920
- 5. Fruits of Their Labors, 1920-1939
- 6. Quick Decline, 1940-1996
- Conclusion: Remembering the Octopus’s Garden
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
