California, John Mack Faragher
California, John Mack Faragher
List: $23.99 | Sale: $16.79
Club: $11.99

California
An American History

Author: John Mack Faragher

Narrator: John Chancer

Unabridged: 15 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/10/2022


Synopsis

A concise and lively history of California, the most multicultural state in the nation
 
“Faragher takes the reader on a captivating journey through myriad twists and turns of California’s multicultural history, enlivened by stories of people who rarely penetrate our traditional state chronicles.”—Carlos E. Cortés, University of California, Riverside
 
California is the most multicultural state in the nation. As John Mack Faragher argues in this concise and lively history, that is nothing new. California's natural variety has always supported diversity, including Native peoples speaking dozens of distinct languages, Spanish and Mexican colonists, gold seekers from all corners of the globe, and successive migrant waves from the eastern states, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the Pacific Islands.
 
Beautifully crafted and elegantly written, Faragher tells the stories of a colorful cast of characters, some famous, others mostly unknown, including African American Archy Lee, who sued for his freedom; Sinkyone Indian woman Sally Bell, who survived genocide; and Jewish schoolgirl Marilyn Greene, who spoke up for her Japanese friends after Pearl Harbor. California's multicultural diversity often led to conflict, turmoil, and violence, but also to invention, improvisation, and a struggle for multicultural democracy.

About John Mack Faragher

John Mack Faragher is the Howard R. Lamar Professor Emeritus of History and American Studies at Yale. He is the author of many books on American history, including a biography of Daniel Boone that received a Los Angeles Times Book Prize.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Linda on October 31, 2022

I learned so much from reading this book! I'm a bit of a Californiaphile - a person who wants to learn a lot about California. I love reading books about this state, including fiction set in this state. This history of California from start to current times (2020, 2021) is full of information I've n......more

Goodreads review by Alison on December 09, 2022

I think for what this book is (a condensed popular history of California) it does a great job. I am curious to see if anybody I know who doesn’t work in a history-related field would like this book. It is so instructive to anyone living in California today, to understand how our state came to be. Th......more

Goodreads review by Ethan on September 06, 2022

A thorough history of California. In a series of short and easily digestible chapters the author describes the history of California from what we know of the Indigenous people before European contact to the modern day. Many histories of California tend to gloss over its history before 1846; this work......more

Goodreads review by Tara on January 12, 2025

Listening to this is like auditing that niche college course that’s super interesting and engrossing but without the midterm that is the hardest test you’ve ever taken in your life. California history, like anywhere else, is fraught with racism and atrocities. But let’s give credit where it’s due: Ca......more

Goodreads review by Barbara on August 10, 2022

A history of California told in stories which made it interesting and easy to read. He hits the high points and includes all the people of California (Gov. De Santis would not approve but he’s not a Californian so what do we care). I learned a lot about our history.......more