The Elusive Eden: A New History of California

by William Bullough, Richard Rice, Richard Orsi, et al.

Book Overview

The Elusive Eden charts the historical development of California, beginning with the evolution of the landscape and climate and the arrival of the first inhabitants, the Indians, through social, political and environmental controversies of the present and the future. The book portrays a land of remarkable richness and complexity, settled by waves of people from diverse cultures. The text is organized chronologically into 10 parts, each developing...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0070479089
• ISBN13: 9780070479081
• Release Date: March 1996
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 640 Pages
• Weight: 5.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.9" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Great Book!

I used this book so much in my California and Politics class. It is very descriptive and helpful. The headings make it easy to study, and know exactly what you are reading about. There are lots of interesting pictures, as well as political cartoons. It was a very helpful book in understanding the diverse and colorful history of California. Read it and check it out for yourself.

History of California

I had to use this book for a class I took at the University of California, Santa Barbara (History 177 -- Summer 1999). I thought the book was great in certain areas (prehistoric times, geography, and the native peoples), but deficient in others (water development, railroads, Bear Flag Revolt, gold rush, automobile). Also, California's history is much too complicated to be crammed into this book -- the author should have divided it up regionally, or on a time line to allow himself to get more in depth with this material. Otherwise, if you are interested in a good, yet incomplete overview of the history of the Golden State, read this book!

Elusive Eden Captured

History can be exciting, especially when the high points are rendered with such immediacy and clarity. California is both a microcosm and macrocaosm of American History. Richard Rice makes this connection resonant from the original Sutter's Mill gold rush to the current Silicon Valley "gold rush". The themes that define California are U.S. history writ large. Rice lets the reader appreciate California from a variety of personal perspectives: Henry Dana's in "Two Years Before The Mast", Leland Stanford and the other "robber barrons", Hiram Johnson and the reformers, into world war two and the Nisei internees, down through Reagan and the Brown family, and into current times. The history of water rights, which was the basis of the movie Chinatown, becomes a compelling and more accurate story here. The lucid prose is admirably supported by evocative photography. Discover California as it really was and is.