The Dream Endures: California Enters the 1940s

by Kevin Starr

Book Overview

What we now call "the good life" first appeared in California during the 1930s. Motels, home trailers, drive-ins, barbecues, beach life and surfing, sports from polo and tennis and golf to mountain climbing and skiing, "sportswear" (a word coined at the time), and sun suits were all a part of the good life--perhaps California's most distinctive influence of the 1930s. In The Dream Endures, Kevin Starr shows how the good life prospered in California--in...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195100794
• ISBN13: 9780195100792
• Release Date: May 1997
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

More of the same, which is a good thing

If you've read any of Dr. Starr's California histories, you've got the idea. Generally they're excellent. And if you've read SEVERAL of Dr. Starr's California histories, you'll undoubtedly notice that he has his favorite subjects: Colleges and universities, churches and institutional architecture, preferably Gothic or Spanish Revival. Being a transplanted East Coaster, I like this kind of thing, but I can also see where a dedicated Westie might find it tedious and oh so dry. All of these books come down to basically the same thing: History of California institutions from an Ivy League perspective. Imagine if Henry Adams had lived another 80 years and had written a history of California.

Key Los Angeles History

A great introduction to So Cal history with a comprehensive reviw of the whole cultural and historical landscape. Just as important, the writing is quick and entertaining.