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Title: Endangered Dreams: The Great Depression in California (Americans and the California Dream) by Kevin Starr ISBN: 0-19-510080-8 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: January, 1996 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Californians, Learn Your State's History
Comment: Kevin Starr's continuing work on the history of California since 1850 continues to impress me and fill me with interesting and useful knowledge about the state. Being a resident of the state, it is relatively easy for me to keep following the thread and the meaning of names and locations. I can imagine this would be somewhat more difficult for readers not as familiar with our state. The story of the waterfront strikes in San Francisco and the farming/migrant/labor issues of the 1930s are very compelling and should be easily understood by readers regardless of where they are from. The issues dealing with our water supply and other water management issues as well as those dealing with large public works within the state, can pose a bigger challenge for those readers.
As with his other volumes, Mr. Starr doesn't just give us straight-ahead, factual history. In my view, he is especially good at giving incidental stories about some of the players involved in a way that keeps the reader more interested. Immediately after finishing the book I went to the internet to find out more about people like photographer Dorothea Lange and the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition. That is what I ask of books like these: that they teach me about things I don't know much about and that they cause me to follow up and learn more about some of the topics within the book.
One learns reading this particular volume that the current quirkiness of California (governor recalls, liberalism, social diversity) is not something that just developed in the 1970s. We had recall movements back in the 1930s as well and some ugliness comes through regarding racism and discrimination in this state that sometimes thinks so highly of itself in that area. It is truly shameful how we discriminated against all migrant workers, whether of color or the Oakies that came to us from the Dust Bowl. The stories of abuse of power by the police and other government entities were very interesting.
I would love to have every Californian---especially our politicians---read Mr. Starr's work. Most history is slow to read, and this is no exception, but the amounts of knowledge one will get about California, make it worth the while.
Rating: 5
Summary: A terrific summary of California's Labor history
Comment: This fourth chapter in Starr's "Americans and the California Dream" is the best yet. I was paticularly interested, in what Starr sees as the States battle between the forces of communism and fascism. The text reads like an account of a some great war, following each battle and skirmish throughout the State. I would recommend this work to anyone who is seriously interested in California or Labor history.
Rating: 4
Summary: Learn something new today!
Comment: I finally got around to reading "The Grapes of Wrath" and was ashamed to realize that the context of the story was all new to me. Right about then, Kevin Starr's book came out and was reviewed in my local paper. He's done a great, steady job of illuminating the rise of the unions and the treatment of the Okies. The only major flaw I found was the lack of a map of California included in the book. I'm from the east coast and found it difficult to keep the place names straight without a ready reference.
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Title: The Dream Endures: California Enters the 1940s by Kevin Starr ISBN: 0195157974 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: October, 2002 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Inventing the Dream: California Through the Progressive Era by Kevin Starr ISBN: 0195042344 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: November, 1986 List Price(USD): $21.50 |
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Title: Embattled Dreams: California in War and Peace, 1940-1950 (Americans and the California Dream) by Kevin Starr ISBN: 0195124375 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: April, 2002 List Price(USD): $37.50 |
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Title: Material Dreams: Southern California Through the 1920's by Kevin Starr ISBN: 019507260X Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr on Demand Pub. Date: October, 1991 List Price(USD): $21.50 |
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Title: Americans and the California Dream, 1850-1915 by Kevin Starr ISBN: 0195042336 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: November, 1986 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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