Description
Book SynopsisWith a land mass one and half times larger than the United Kingdom, the history of the state of California demands a closer look.
Trade ReviewThe biographies in The Human Tradition in California portray a select group of Californians in the rich detail and complexity tha thuman lives warrant, and that is what makes good history. * Southern California Quarterly *
An engaging, thoughtful book. Students and interested readers alike will enjoy the range of stories and the up-to-date scholarship of this well done and compelling collection of essays. * Western Historical Quarterly *
This compact volume of accessible and up-to-date narratives succeeds wonderfully in the very challenging task fo representing the vast diversity of California history. by takin ga biographicl approach, this skillfully edited compilation of pithy and lively essays manages to convey the big themes and collective patterns without sacrificing the unique experiences of Native Americans, African Americans, Asians, Anglos, Latinos, women, workers, and entrepreneurs. This is a first-rate survey of, and introduction to, California history. -- Philip J. Ethington, University of Southern California
A wonderful collection of biographical essays. The majority of the chapters beutifully illuminate the lives of previously less well-known persons, while the others shed new light on familiar figures. Taken together, the essays capture the exceptional diversity of California's human tradition. This book should be welcomed by all students of California history and assigned in all courses on the subject. -- Stephen Aron, University of California, Los Angeles; director, Center for the Study of the American West at the Autry Museum
Clark Davis and David Igler have assembled fifteen exceptionally fine brief essays that illustrate the successes and maladies of California life from the earliest days to the rise of Silicon Valley as a center of the nation's high-tech industries. The authors of the pieces, by focusing on the life stories of individuals, some well-known and others obscure, have not only given history a human face but also explained major and often controversial episodes in California's past. Many of the essays are revisionist in nature and hold surprises. The Human Tradition in California is not only a good read but would also be an excellent supplement to a standard text as well as a text for a short course in California history. -- Martin Ridge, Huntington Library
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Pablo Tac: Peoples in Preconact California Chapter 2 Father President marian Payeras: A View of the California Missions Chapter 3 Guadalupe Trujillo: Race, Culture, and Justice in Mexican Los Angeles Chapter 4 Alfred Doten: Diversity and the Anglo Forty-niner Chapter 5 Wong Kim Ark: Chinese American Citizens and U.S. Exclusion Laws, 1882-1943 Chapter 6 William Hammond Hall: City Water and Progressive Era Reform in San Francisco Chapter 7 Caroline Marie Seymour Severence: Activist, Organizer, and Reformer Chapter 8 Transforming the "White" Frontier: Cecil B. DeMille and the Origins of the Hollywood Home Chapter 9 John Steinbeck: On the Road to The Grapes of Wrath Chapter 10 Four Migrant Stories: African American Women in Wartime California Chapter 11 Edison Uno: The Experience and Legacy of the Japanese American Internment Chapter 12 Joy Neugebauer: Purchasing the California Dream in Postwar Suburbia Chapter 13 S. I. Hayakawa: Asian American Radicalism and the Dilemma of American Liberalism Chapter 14 Cesar Chavez: The Serpent and the Dove Chapter 15 New Immigrants to Silicon Valley, 1970-2000 Chapter 16 Suggests for Further Reading and Research Chapter 17 Index
