Sponsored by The Book Club of California In 1939, when John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath was published, it became an instant bestseller and a prevailing narrative in the nation’s collective imagination of the era. But it also stopped the publication of another important novel, silencing a gifted writer who was more […]
California history
17 posts
Sponsored by The Book Club of California Claus Spreckels (1828–1908) emigrated from his homeland of Germany to the United States with only seventy-five cents in his pocket, built a sugar empire, and became one of the richest Americans in history alongside John D. Rockefeller, Warren Buffett, and Bill Gates. Migrating […]
Sponsored by The Book Club of California California owes its origins and sunny prosperity to slavery. Spanish invaders captured Indigenous people to build the chain of Catholic missions. Russian otter hunters shipped Alaska Natives—the first slaves transported into California—and launched a Pacific slave triangle to China. Plantation slaves were marched […]
Sponsored by The Book Club of California California owes its origins and sunny prosperity to slavery. Spanish invaders captured Indigenous people to build the chain of Catholic missions. Russian otter hunters shipped Alaska Natives—the first slaves transported into California—and launched a Pacific slave triangle to China. Plantation slaves were marched […]
A central theme of Making a Modern U.S. West by Sarah Deutsch is the question of what would constitute a modern U.S. and whose vision would define the West and the nation. Modernity for some meant corporate consolidation, capital intensive agriculture, white supremacy, male-headed families and private individual land-holding. For […]
Sponsored by The Book Club of California An essential piece in California Studies, Redemptive Dreams: Engaging Kevin Starr’s California offers the first critical engagement with the vision of California’s most ambitious interpreter. While Starr’s multifaceted and polymathic vision of California offered a unique gaze—synthesizing central features, big themes, and incredible […]
Sponsored by The Book Club of California When the more than 18 million visitors poured into the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) in San Francisco in 1915, they encountered a vision of the world born out of San Francisco’s particular local political and social climate. By seeking to please various constituent […]
Sponsored by The Book Club of California and Litquake 6:00 PM – 7:15 PM Pacific Virtual presentation Before there was such a thing as “California,” there were the People and the Land. Manifest Destiny, the Gold Rush, and settler colonial society drew maps, displaced Indigenous People, and reshaped the land, […]
Sponsored by The Book Club of California Monday Sept. 11, 6:00 PM – 7:15 PM Pacific In-person and virtual presentation 5:30 PM Pacific – Reception 6:00 PM Pacific – Program Diane Power Zimmerman will share highlights from her book Nut Tree: From a California Ranch to a Design, Food, and […]
Sponsored by The Book Club of Washington Buying and Building One of the World’s Greatest Libraries Presentation by Dr. Vanessa Wilkie Senior Curator of Medieval Manuscripts & British History at The Huntington Library Online Sunday, August 20, 2 pm PDT Register here: https://www.bookclubofwashington.org/events-1/buying-and-building-one-of-the-worlds-greatest-libraries Dr. Wilkie will take us back to […]