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Rating: 
Summary: A People's History of California....
Review: A great book and a good read. Patrica Nelson Limerick's Legacy of Conquest meets John McPhee's Assembling California. Part human geography, part revisionist history, part travel narrative, Fradkin looks at events big and small from a perspective other than the railroad, mining, and timber barons, and the civic boosters of the Golden State. One focus is on the untold stories of the Native Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Irish and the others marginalized in previous histories. Another focus is the realm of the natural world (Grizzly bear, salmon, the Cascade volcanos e.g.)and how it influenced the past and how it is reflected into the present, sometimes ironically. Fredkin weaves these together with his personal experience and research and produces a very readable, entertaining and often disconcerting whole. I have spent much time in the past reseaching California's history for professional and academic purposes and this book taught me much. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A People's History of California....
Review: A great book and a good read. Patrica Nelson Limerick's Legacy of Conquest meets John McPhee's Assembling California. Part human geography, part revisionist history, part travel narrative, Fradkin looks at events big and small from a perspective other than the railroad, mining, and timber barons, and the civic boosters of the Golden State. One focus is on the untold stories of the Native Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Irish and the others marginalized in previous histories. Another focus is the realm of the natural world (Grizzly bear, salmon, the Cascade volcanos e.g.)and how it influenced the past and how it is reflected into the present, sometimes ironically. Fredkin weaves these together with his personal experience and research and produces a very readable, entertaining and often disconcerting whole. I have spent much time in the past reseaching California's history for professional and academic purposes and this book taught me much. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Great social/environmental history
Review: Although the books is billed as presenting an ecological history of California, it appears that this is mainly to help sell it. Where Fradkin excels is in uncovering little-known social history, particularly around racial strife. There's a lot of us-vs-them in this state's history that's rarely talked about. The great thing is, the author presents a coherent, readable history, rather than a tiresome sermon from a soapbox. Worth a read.
Rating:
Summary: Great social/environmental history
Review: Although the books is billed as presenting an ecological history of California, it appears that this is mainly to help sell it. Where Fradkin excels is in uncovering little-known social history, particularly around racial strife. There's a lot of us-vs-them in this state's history that's rarely talked about. The great thing is, the author presents a coherent, readable history, rather than a tiresome sermon from a soapbox. Worth a read.
Rating: 
Summary: No glory but much death.
Review: This was not the book that I expected to read, and I don't mean this in a good way.To a large degree, Fradkin's goal is to pierce the illusion of the biggest marketing scam in North American history, that of Golden California. .... Comments such as "modern California was founded on greed and violence" only lead me to respond what empire wasn't? ... What saves the book is that Fradkin does love the state regardless of what has happened in the past, and he does know his history. ....
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