The King of California: J.G. Boswell and the Making of A Secret American Empire

by Mark Arax and Rick Wartzman

Book Overview

The fascinating story of a cotton magnate whose voracious appetite for land drove him to create the first big agricultural empire of the Central Valley of California, and shaped the landscape for decades to come.

J.G. Boswell was the biggest farmer in America. He built a secret empire while thumbing his nose at nature, politicians, labor unions and every journalist who ever tried to lift the veil on the ultimate "factory in the fields."...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1586482815
• ISBN13: 9781586482817
• Release Date: February 2005
• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Length: 592 Pages
• Weight: 1.51 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 5.5" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 9 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 4 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Surfaced and Harpooned

This far-reaching book is quite an accomplishment in biography and investigative journalism. Arax and Wartzman cover the history of the immense Boswell farming company of California, and the two guys named J.G. (the founding uncle and the current chairman, his nephew) who built the company into the largest cotton operation on Earth. Through cutthroat competitive instincts and political wheeling-and-dealing, the Boswells amassed tens of thousands of acres in California's Central Valley, and were instrumental in eliminating what was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi, as the former Tulare Lake was transformed into a festering network of levees, canals, and cesspools dedicated to the mass production of cotton. Thus, the Boswells built the area's environment, culture, and economics for their own profitability. The book also serves as a great exploration of the business of factory farming, detailing the racism and poverty experienced by Black and Mexican workers, as well as the shifty agricultural and hydrological politics of Big Ag in California - as the Boswells and their competitors/allies buy politicians, stack laws and regulations in their favor, and claim flood control as a reason to alter the natural course of rivers and to completely drain the vast Tulare Lake. Best of all, we see how big business really works out West, with the hypocrisy of so-called rugged outdoorsmen (actually pampered CEO's) who incessantly rail against government interference while also taking in millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies that are meant to help the little guy. This book is immensely informative but does often get tied up in unnecessary details, such as descriptions of petty political shenanigans in the construction of a nearby dam. But the motto of the Boswell clan has been that a whale can't be harpooned if it doesn't come to the surface (a legacy of silence and obfuscation), but Arax and Wartzman have deftly cracked into the wall of secrecy surrounding the Boswells and their often ill-gotten empire, [~doomsdayer520~]

Tremendous historical, political, and social epic

The book centers around three generations of Boswells as they migrated from Green County Georgia to Kings County California and became the largest producers of cotton in the world, without becoming a household name. The book also tells of the natural, social, and political histories of the San Joaquin Valley from the days of indigenous peoples and the first Spanish invaders to the present day. The epic is a fascinating study of twentieth century American history, society, economics, business, finance, management, politics, public policy, labor relations, mechanization, technology, modernization, and nature. The more personal stories of family, romance, crime, and punishment read more like a good novel. Some have found the authors liberally biased, but as a conservative, I found the authors well balanced in their presentations of all sides of the stories. As others have said, the scope is huge and the research extensive. As someone who was born and raised in Kings County California, I found this heretofor unknown local history to be quite fascinating. Nevertheless, I believe this book will have broad appeal to many readers.

Boswell rises above the author's bias

I read this book to learn more about the history of water brokerage in California. Though I am a conservationist with a strongly liberal bent, the blatantly liberal bias of these authors tainted the credibility of an otherwise incredible book. Despite the obvious efforts to cast the Boswells in a negative light, the strengths and achievements of the family rise above the bias to make a stronger case for themselves than would be if the book were penned on neutral ground.The Boswell story is worthy of an Ayn Rand novel. The environmental, agricultural, political, and social impacts of this family boggle the imagination. The hubris is 100% American born and bred. To say this book is about cotton farming is to say Moby Dick is a book about whaling. It is a read of tremendous scope.Parts of the book are undeniably ponderous and written in a stop and start fashion. Details are thick and mundane in some places while sketchy and needing in others. Regardless, it is a fascinating and well-researched work. The King of California is a book worth reading and worthy of being studied by every student of California history and culture. Highly recommended.

LARGEST LAKE IN THE US DRAINED FOR AGRICULTURE

Mark Arax and Rick Wartzman have compiled and written a wonderfully comprehensive book on the struggle between man and nature as well as on man and the political machine. The story of J.G. Boswell and the taking of Tulare Lake is nothing short of an incredible tale of how a family of humble beginnings could become the largest farming operation in the United States. Arax and Wartzman are to be congratulated for their survival through years of research and writing of a book that will remain a classic of California history for years to come. Seen by many who are connected with the Boswell empire as a threat, the book lays out the details of how the company systematically gained thousands of acre feet of water rights in a drought-threatened San Joaquin Valley. It is a well rounded book telling a fantastic true story. The Boswell company should be proud of their success as should Mark and Rick in theirs. Booksellers in the San Joaquin Valley can't keep it in stock and have sold thousands of copies to local residents. It is a story that people want to know about.

A grand sweeping book.

I couldn't put this book down! Arax did it again. This is a grand sweeping history of the J G Boswell Company and the Tulare Lake bottom they farm. A few times the book described events and people I personally knew and they got it exactly right. This is a good balanced history and a story that really needed telling. For most people the San Joaquin Valley is almost a complete blank, for many who live here it is precisely where the plantation meets the rancho. Reading this epic book about JG Boswell will go a long way towards explaining why and whatever happened to the biggest lake west of the Mississippi.