The Human Tradition in California

Edited by Clark Davis, David Igler

Publication date:

01 August 2002

Length of book:

253 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9780842050265

With a land mass one and half times larger than the United Kingdom, a population of more than thirty million, and an economy that would rank sixth among world nations, the history of the state of California demands a closer look.

The Human Tradition in California captures the region's rich history and diversity, taking readers into the daily lives of ordinary Californians at key moments in time. These brief biographies show how individual people and communities have influenced the broad social, cultural, political and economic forces that have shaped California history from the pre-mission period through the late-twentieth century. In personalizing California's history, this engaging new book brings the Golden State to life.

About the Editors
Clark Davis has written extensively about California and its colorful history. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and Pacific Historical Review. He is a professor of history at California State University, Fullerton.

David Igler is a long-time historian of California history and culture. He has presented for the Western Historical Association, the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association, and the California Studies Association. Dr. Igler is professor of history at the University of Utah.

Chapter 1 Pablo Tac: Peoples in Preconact California
Chapter 2 Father President marian Payeras: A View of the California Missions
Chapter 3 Guadalupe Trujillo: Race, Culture, and Justice in Mexican Los Angeles
Chapter 4 Alfred Doten: Diversity and the Anglo Forty-niner
Chapter 5 Wong Kim Ark: Chinese American Citizens and U.S. Exclusion Laws, 1882-1943
Chapter 6 William Hammond Hall: City Water and Progressive Era Reform in San Francisco
Chapter 7 Caroline Marie Seymour Severence: Activist, Organizer, and Reformer
Chapter 8 Transforming the "White" Frontier: Cecil B. DeMille and the Origins of the Hollywood Home
Chapter 9 John Steinbeck: On the Road to The Grapes of Wrath
Chapter 10 Four Migrant Stories: African American Women in Wartime California
Chapter 11 Edison Uno: The Experience and Legacy of the Japanese American Internment
Chapter 12 Joy Neugebauer: Purchasing the California Dream in Postwar Suburbia
Chapter 13 S. I. Hayakawa: Asian American Radicalism and the Dilemma of American Liberalism
Chapter 14 Cesar Chavez: The Serpent and the Dove
Chapter 15 New Immigrants to Silicon Valley, 1970-2000
Chapter 16 Suggests for Further Reading and Research
Chapter 17 Index

An engaging, thoughtful book. Students and interested readers alike will enjoy the range of stories and the up-to-date scholarship of this well done and compelling collection of essays.