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Summary: The King of California: J. G. Boswell and the Making of a Se
Review: A reporter and an editor from the chronicle the little-known story of the rise of a cotton baron in 1920s California. Labor and water rights are among the issues explored. Photos include the Boswell mansion, where several movies were filmed.
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Summary: Excellent for anyone interested in large scale farming
Review: Excellent history of the Boswell family. Very interesting reading. The authors described many technical aspects of production agriculture in suprising detail considering that they are reporters and not agriculture specialists.
Anyone involved in farm management, agriculture economics, environmental management or agricultural water management will enjoy reading this book.
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Summary: Excellent for anyone interested in large scale farming
Review: Excellent history of the Boswell family. Very interesting reading. The authors described many technical aspects of production agriculture in suprising detail considering that they are reporters and not agriculture specialists.
Anyone involved in farm management, agriculture economics, environmental management or agricultural water management will enjoy reading this book.
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Summary: A grand sweeping book.
Review: I couldn't put this book down! Arax did it again. This is a grand sweeping history of the J G Boswell Company and the Tulare Lake bottom they farm. A few times the book described events and people I personally knew and they got it exactly right. This is a good balanced history and a story that really needed telling. For most people the San Joaquin Valley is almost a complete blank, for many who live here it is precisely where the plantation meets the rancho. Reading this epic book about JG Boswell will go a long way towards explaining why and whatever happened to the biggest lake west of the Mississippi.
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Summary: Boswell rises above the author's bias
Review: I read this book to learn more about the history of water brokerage in California. Though I am a conservationist with a strongly liberal bent, the blatantly liberal bias of these authors tainted the credibility of an otherwise incredible book. Despite the obvious efforts to cast the Boswells in a negative light, the strengths and achievements of the family rise above the bias to make a stronger case for themselves than would be if the book were penned on neutral ground.The Boswell story is worthy of an Ayn Rand novel. The environmental, agricultural, political, and social impacts of this family boggle the imagination. The hubris is 100% American born and bred. To say this book is about cotton farming is to say Moby Dick is a book about whaling. It is a read of tremendous scope. Parts of the book are undeniably ponderous and written in a stop and start fashion. Details are thick and mundane in some places while sketchy and needing in others. Regardless, it is a fascinating and well-researched work. The King of California is a book worth reading and worthy of being studied by every student of California history and culture. Highly recommended.
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Summary: Boswell's story embraces the growth & history of California
Review: King Of California is the true story of J.G. Boswell and a strong history of early California politics. King Of California tells the elusive story of a farmer who thumbed his nose at nature, politicians and reporters alike - one who owned more agricultural acreage and river water than any other land baron in the West. Boswell's story embraces the growth and history of California and is packed from cover to cover with historical drama and insights.
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Summary: LARGEST LAKE IN THE US DRAINED FOR AGRICULTURE
Review: Mark Arax and Rick Wartzman have compiled and written a wonderfully comprehensive book on the struggle between man and nature as well as on man and the political machine. The story of J.G. Boswell and the taking of Tulare Lake is nothing short of an incredible tale of how a family of humble beginnings could become the largest farming operation in the United States. Arax and Wartzman are to be congratulated for their survival through years of research and writing of a book that will remain a classic of California history for years to come. Seen by many who are connected with the Boswell empire as a threat, the book lays out the details of how the company systematically gained thousands of acre feet of water rights in a drought-threatened San Joaquin Valley. It is a well rounded book telling a fantastic true story. The Boswell company should be proud of their success as should Mark and Rick in theirs. Booksellers in the San Joaquin Valley can't keep it in stock and have sold thousands of copies to local residents. It is a story that people want to know about.
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Summary: Shameful Bias
Review: The authors have taken a sweeping story and turned it into a soapbox for their ultra-liberal bias. They show a clear disdain for Boswell and the other super-achievers, depicting them as evil exploiters. Less fortunate characters, such as smaller farmers, farm workers, and local politicians are portrayed as helpless victims. Even inmates of the famed Corcoran State prison and the area's contemporary gang members are somehow subtly depicted as sympathetic victims. Their radical environmental agenda is also painfully obvious. A more balanced approach would give this work a lot more credence.
In spite of the shameful bias, the book is an excellent read. If the reader can filter out the authors' extreme left wing agenda, there is a lot to learn and enjoy. The history of the Tulare Lake Basin and the Boswell family is a fascinating subject, and the authors have covered the subject thoroughly. But given the unbalanced approach, maybe Jim Boswell's first instinct was right. Maybe he should have thrown them out when they came to request an interview.
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Summary: Tremendous historical, political, and social epic
Review: The book centers around three generations of Boswells as they migrated from Green County Georgia to Kings County California and became the largest producers of cotton in the world, without becoming a household name.
The book also tells of the natural, social, and political histories of the San Joaquin Valley from the days of indigenous peoples and the first Spanish invaders to the present day.
The epic is a fascinating study of twentieth century American history, society, economics, business, finance, management, politics, public policy, labor relations, mechanization, technology, modernization, and nature.
The more personal stories of family, romance, crime, and punishment read more like a good novel.
Some have found the authors liberally biased, but as a conservative, I found the authors well balanced in their presentations of all sides of the stories.
As others have said, the scope is huge and the research extensive. As someone who was born and raised in Kings County California, I found this heretofor unknown local history to be quite fascinating. Nevertheless, I believe this book will have broad appeal to many readers.
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Summary: Complete
Review: The book started slow with way too much detail, it felt as if the writers had something out for the Boswell company. The authors did a wonderful job of discribing the Boswell family, the good and the bad. I cannot say that i couldnt put the book down because there were parts that made me ask "Why are they telling me this?" Over all it is a good book with good coverage over the creation of California's main crop. Being raised in Corcoran it touched many subjects that i know about. One big draw back was that you can get easly confused when they are talking about the past or the Present and the first 5 chapters were mostly bland.
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