California: A History

by Kevin Starr

“A California classic . . . California, it should be remembered, was very much the wild west, having to wait until 1850 before it could force its way into statehood. so what tamed it? Mr. Starr’s answer is a combination of great men, great ideas and great projects.”— The Economist

From the age of exploration to the age of Arnold, the Golden State’s premier historian distills the entire sweep of California’s history into one splendid volume. Kevin Starr covers it Spain’s conquest of the native peoples of California in the early sixteenth century and the chain of missions that helped that country exert control over the upper part of the territory; the discovery of gold in January 1848; the incredible wealth of the Big Four railroad tycoons; the devastating San Francisco earthquake of 1906; the emergence of Hollywood as the world’s entertainment capital and of Silicon Valley as the center of high-tech research and development; the role of labor, both organized and migrant, in key industries from agriculture to aerospace. In a rapid-fire epic of discovery, innovation, catastrophe, and triumph, Starr gathers together everything that is most important, most fascinating, and most revealing about our greatest state.

Praise for California

“[A] fast-paced and wide-ranging history . . . [Starr] accomplishes the feat with skill, grace and verve.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Kevin Starr is one of california’s greatest historians, and California is an invaluable contribution to our state’s record and lore.” —MarIa ShrIver, journalist and former First Lady of California

“A breeze to read.” — San Francisco

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, United States, Audiobook, The United States Of America, American

416 pages, Paperback

Published March 13, 2007

About the author

Kevin Starr was an American historian, best-known for his multi-volume series on the history of California, collectively called "America and the California Dream".

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Returning to my home state after a 12-year exile, I realized the last time I'd studied California history was in the fourth grade. Kevin Starr's slim volume was just what I needed to catch myself up. 344 pages is by no means enough for a truly comprehensive history, but Starr deftly surveys the development of the state from Native American enclave and figure of Spanish legend into the behemoth it is today, while simultaneously tracing the artistic, scientific, political and social threads that make the tapestry of California culture.

It's a great primer for those with casual interest, and a great jumping off point for those interested in a more detailed study of the subject through his or others' other works.

[Marion Dickel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little dry. Filled with lists of people - artists, politicians, etc. I need a more interesting history of CA to read.

[Elyse Capelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really excited about this book as a Californian and history nerd. There are few books on California history and this is among them. As I made my way through, I was bored.. California is not boring, and neither is history. At this point, I was mildly frustrated and continued through, at which point Starr's politics started to seep into his telling. How did this conservative Catholic attempt to run for office as a Democrat again? Anyway, the language is outdated, as other reviewers have mentioned, and that is never pleasant to read. Also, where are the women? Anyway, I give it three stars because it covers a lot of historical periods and is generally informative for a holistic look at California's history.

[Lynne Nunyabidness · Rating 2 out of 5]

I ended up with the audiobook edition, and wasn’t hopeful for a high-quality comprehensive history of a huge state. I wasn’t disappointed. Or, rather, disappointed further. A few points that illustrate why: 1: To Starr, California outside the major cities and the Gold Rush barely existed. 2: Except for early Spanish colonizers, “diversity” gets a chapter toward the end, the goal of which is largely seems to be to problematize brown people. In California. No talk of the Chicano rights movement, the Black Panthers, the public college systems that education most of the state’s residents other than Cal. 3: Apparently women have barely existed throughout California’s history, except for Mrs. Stanford and Joan Didion. 4: The author hadn’t figured out by 2007 that the only people still using the term “illegals” earnestly were white supremacists, whether they’re wearing white sheets or black robes and doctoral hoods.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun journey through the history of California. Found the era of Spanish colonization, Mexican governance, and establishment of the California Republic to be particularly interesting. A little dry at times.

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lively history of a land of heroic proportions and fantastic illusions - dreams and noir.

[Anna From Gustine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who is so boring that they would actually read a whole book about California? Me, that's who. I am just that boring.

California is actually my beloved home state. I am from the Central Valley (Gustine, in fact) which is NOT what most people think of when they think of California. A large part of the state is not San Francisco or Los Angeles. And that is one of the reasons I liked this book. It gives a full picture of the state which I appreciated.

This book is not for everyone. It may look dry, but it's actually just really dense. It starts way back during the Spanish colonization and ends in the nineties I think. I learned a lot. The best sections were the ones on the labor agitation in the state, predominately in the 20s and 30s. I also appreciated the attention on how the Native Californians were treated and decimated (how many people even know there were tribes in California and that remnants still remain?) The worst are the last couple of chapters which I scanned as they were pretty much lists of names from the world of science and Hollywood.

I appreciated the moments when the author's voice appeared. They were few and far between, but telling. For example, when talking about racism, he makes it very clear in a professorial way how he personally felt about it. When talking about an attack on Mexican Zoot suiters, he pointedly refrains from quoting the racist jargon in newspapers at the time. I appreciated that integrity.

Finally, if you take one thing from this review, it's that California is a complex state. It mixes the liberalism of urban areas with small town conservatism. It's all there, but you need to know where to look.

[N · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the notes of this book, Kevin Starr comments on his initial hesitation about how successful a one-volume history of the state of California could be. After reading California: A History, I think his first inclination was correct. There's a lot to say about California's colourful history, and I'm really not sure that this slight (~300-page) book does it justice.

It's not a bad book. But it's also not, all told, a book I got much out of.

[Nathan H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for "History of California" at College of the Canyons; figured it'd be fun to learn more about my new home state. The book covers the pre-Columbian period to the 2003 recall election and Arnold Schwarzenegger's governorship.

Although Los Angeles gets most of the attention nowadays, San Francisco was the biggest city in California until 1920-ish, and many things in the city are named after famous figures in California history. Having spent some time there, it was pretty cool to connect the names of the streets and landmarks I lived and worked on with the historical figures and events they were named after. Definitely made the reading more memorable to be able to recall stuff in the form of "oh, I lived on the street named after the guy who dynamited the city in 1906, and I ate burritos in the park near the oldest intact building".

The book was also a salutary reminder of California's dangers (the 1906 and 1989 Bay Area earthquakes, the 1991 Oakland hills fire, etc.) — a fact I'm apt to forget when the weather's too nice for too long.

I would've liked to see a chapter about Silicon Valley and California's modern position as a technological superpower, but if anything the lack of a notable mention of Google et al underscores the sheer speed at which they've completely transformed our world (the book was originally published in 2005).

Starr concludes with some notes on the "California dream" — the idea, dating back to the gold rush days, that California is a land of abundant opportunity and fast fortune, if you're lucky enough. Starr, in 2005, declares unequivocally that it's still alive. Yet, in 2021, articles about Californians moving out have been in the news for a couple of years now so much so that they're kind of cliche, and the pandemic has undoubtedly tested the dream again for many. Homelessness, crime, taxation, mismanagement, and bureaucracy (whether real or perceived) continue to pose formidable challenges to the state. At the same time, California has the best weather, most innovative companies, most diverse population, and best public higher education system in the United States, and arguably the world.

There are many things I've come to love about California, but living here has also shown me the degree to which the state has so much work to do on so many fronts. Still — as Starr recounts succinctly in these 300 or so pages — the state has done it before and I think it can do it again. I am still a believer.

All the leaves are brown /
And the sky is gray /
I've been for a walk /
On a winter's day /
I'd be safe and warm /
If I was in L.A.

California dreamin' /
On such a winter's day

[Andrew Shine · Rating 3 out of 5]

On one hand, it’s pretty extensive. It covers everything from Jesuits to the Gold Rush to hippies. But on the other, some major California figures are relegated to only a couple of paragraphs at most. Maybe naively, but I want whole chapters on William Randolph Hearst, John Muir, William Mulholland, Joan Didion, etc. Even still, it’s enough to showcase what makes this state ever so fascinating! And especially as a microcosm of the American experiment as a whole.

[Catullus2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of golden state history.

[Allyson Ferrari · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really comprehensive and somewhat dense history of California with a lot of names. The book was well structured and was certainly well researched. This very much was a "white man's" history of the state. While Starr did introduce some moments relating to people of color and did acknowledge some of the oppressive history (like the missions and indigenous people and Japanese Internment), they were really only lightly touched on. What was noticeably absent were some of the modern day social movements, namely Caesar Chavez and the Black Panthers.
And this book also felt a bit dated when talking about modern California. A lot has changed since 2005 when it was published and ending it on Schwarzenegger's term dated it immediately. A new epilogue wouldn't go amiss (written by a different author of course as Starr has since died) to address modern California.
One thing that was interesting to read in 2021, was talking about the recall of Governor Gray Davis in 2003. After the dot-com bust and the energy collapse of the early aughts, he says "someone, after all, had to be responsible for this mess, and it might as well be the governor." This is a striking parallel to the recall efforts of Gavin Newsom in 2021, the "mess" being the COVID-19 pandemic. Took only about 20 years for history to repeat itself in this instance.
Overall, a good read if you're interested in California history but just be ready for a lot of information.

[Hakan Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is like an encyclopedia on California. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. The bad thing is that there is little continuity, it goes from one piece of history to the next with little structure other than that it's mostly chronological. However, it was good in that I feel like I've walked away from this book learning a lot. So in short: it was worth the read, but don't expect a page turner from beginning to end.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and impressively comprehensive journey into the history of my dear homeland. This is the type of book that is worth owning if you’re interested in always having an easy reference for California general knowledge that’s not a dry textbook. It could use an update already as I feel a lot has happened in the last decade, but in any case this is probably the first book I will refer to people interested in state history from here on out.

California pride = reinvigorated

[Patrick Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic — tough to read but it’s a veritable encyclopedia of this wonderful country pretending to be a state

[Kevin]

Every state and region deserves a Kevin Starr to chronicle the unique history of the geography and events that shape a place. I was first acquainted with Starr through some of his California essay collections that helped to give me some insights into my graduate school research. This overview is an excellent companion to those essays and seems to strike the right balance between zooming in and panning out.
There are times that Starr seems to struggle with "big man" history as key figures dominate. Still, the patient reader is rewarded with a refocusing on the larger experiences groups and populations.
California, despite and because of its size, place in popular culture, economic power, and political weight, is often misunderstood, and the actions of its residents and politicians are misinterpreted. This book tells important stories and provides a body of research I hope other historians can build from.

[Misael Galdámez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed Kevin Starr’s exploration of California’s history as we’ve come to know it. My favorite parts were the mythologizing of California by the Spanish, early American settlers, and then again in the 1920s during the development of SoCal. The section on Disneyland as encapsulating the values of the time and suburban SoCal also blew my mind (I grew up in the OC).

I struggled a bit with the book - because it encompasses 500 years of history, it can be difficult to follow at times. Characters and players come in and out like a Wild West Saloon, making it hard to keep track of who’s who but helping you understand some subthemes of the Golden State’s History.

All that said, an excellent primer on the development of “that sunshine state where the bomb-ass hemp be, a place where you never find the dance floor empty.”

[Elyse · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good broad overview of the history of California, but ultimately left me wanting more. There were a few stories unraveled in detail but largely it strings together major dates, names, and events through the decades from the first discovery of the Pacific Coast to the 21st century. I’m not too bothered by that, it’s an intimidating undertaking and I have plenty of other California history books on my various wishlists to provide more angles on the legacy of this huge and diverse state. I am mostly curious to hear more from the Native, Mexican, Asian perspectives, etc. which this book touches on throughout but never quite privileges above the idea of “American California,” a self-defined and hybridized place that is more often than not led by Anglo Americans and European immigrants.

[Marc Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished Kevin Starr’s single volume history of California. I hate to use this word, both because it’s overused in general, and has already been used by many others to describe this book, but it really is a magisterial work. He covers everything from the geology of California to pretty much every aspect of California’s culture. It’s also one of the most engaging histories on any subject I’ve ever read. I highly recommend it.

He ends on a hopeful note but I’m not sure how hopeful he was toward the very end of his life.

There’s much more to say but it’s been said better by others.

[Kkraemer · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of California, from the earliest indigenous people through Arnold, from the border with Mexico to the border of Oregon, from Spanish through Mexican through Territory through Statehood, from the mixing of races to the riots between races, from environmental to developmental to art, science, technology, literature, military and agricultural development and control...all in 344 pages.

Unbelievable.

And reminiscent of why so many hated history: each sentence is a new fact, each paragraph a collection of facts, each chapter a theme. Little sticking power. We used to think students needed this great overview in order to delve into any understanding of historical development; this book shows the flaws in that approach. This is well written and complete, yet the gallop of factoids is utterly overwhelming (as it must be, given the topic).

Better to read Starr's multi-volume history of California, where connections and implications and assumptions are explored...

[Abhinav · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very wide ranging history that covers most of what I wanted to know about the history of California. I picked up a lot of interesting tidbits about the people, places and the history of how California came to be. Would definitely recommend this to folks interested in interested in the subject.

[Deepak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast moving

A fast moving history of the golden state in the last 500+ years covering the life of indigenous peoples, the spanish colonists and later Mexican rule, assimilation into the united states, gold rush, agriculture, industry, high tech and semi-conductors to Arnold's governorship.

[Iñaki Tofiño · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and well-researched approach to California's history, which includes Native Americans settlements, Spanish colonisation, Mexican dominion and its integration in the US up to nowadays. It combines social and economic facts with literature, music, and cinema, giving a good overview of the region's dynamics.

[Q Silver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid, high-level history. I hoped for a little more rich, low-level, personal detail, but it was still solid.

[Jolette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Densely written, fact laden, white man's history.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fairly brief history of the state covers the beginnings of the land we have come to call California to the early 2000s. An interesting thing about reading a history of the state in which I grew up is the fact that I recognized far more history than I thought I knew. State history was covered in seventh grade; I have always wished that state history was covered again at a slightly later time when I would be prone to remember it better and when history could be discussed with slightly more nuance, so discovering that I knew the state better than I thought I did was in some ways a pleasant surprise.

Reading about the state's history also made me realize one other thing, given that I'm also reading a list of Chinese literature. It's much easier to get a grasp on new elements of history that one is already familiar with. With China, I largely feel lost in many cases. A basic history of the country, while useful and interesting, remains difficult to remember once the book is read. Here, because so much of the history was drilled into me over the years, I understand the outline of the events and can better figure out where new facts fit in.

Starr's book doesn't dwell much on the prehistory of the land--just a few pages on the geography and landscape and a few more on the Native cultures that preceded the arrival of Western settlers. In other words, Starr focuses his account on what we have written records for, and that worked well for my own interests.

Starr's overall point with the book is that California is in many ways a microcosm for the United States. The same political, cultural, and environmental issues that have so impacted the nation have played similar roles in this one state, which has come under the control of Spanish, Mexican, and American governments. One thing that I found interesting regarding the pre-American California was the degree to which the United States, as well as other powers, such as Britain and Russia, were scheming, from fairly early on, to take the area for themselves. It seemed rather inevitable, in Starr's telling, that once Mexico gained independence it would lose much of its North American territory. Such was the greed of the colonial powers.

Other passages of interest included Starr's exploration of the development of California's culture in the late 1800s. I was unaware of the extent of the bohemian movement in the state and would like to read more about that--what such people's views were and how they lived their lives during that period.

Also of interest to me was Starr's discussion of the rather contemporary development of California's politics. I was alive for much of this, and remember many of the events, but coming to them in a book, as an adult, was intriguing. I don't think I quite realized how nonidealogical many of the state's politicians were from about the 1950s to the early 1970s (even as Republicans dominated elections). Since then the state has moved toward the same sort of liberal/conservative division that has afflicted our nation, with rural areas much more conservative and urban areas, where most of the population is, more liberal.

[Frank Stein · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was inevitable that Kevin Starr, the semi-official historian of California, would do a short synopsis of his work and of the history of the state. It was also inevitable that the resulting book would be little more than a collage of names and anecdotes with little structure, since squeezing together 200-plus years would leave little room for original insights. There are a lot of odd factoids about inventions from California (did you know the tractor was created by Fresno wagoneer Benjamin Holt in 1904?) and writers who lived there (Mark Twain of course spent about a decade there; Wallace Stegner spent most of his adult life in Stanford University; Ray Bradbury was a Southern Californian). There's a lot of commonly known history: the Watts riots in LA get a paragraph, the Jonestown massacre coming out of People's Temple in San Francisco gets a paragraph, the OJ Simpson case gets a paragraph.

Some events or people described here, however, are more distinctly "Californian," and have been forgotten by the wider public. William Coleman was a San Francisco businessman who organized the two "vigilance committees" that brought lynch law to the city in the wake of Irish "invasions" and high crime rates in the 1850s. Strangely enough, he also organized a 1877 vigilante group to stop the Workingmen's Party from murdering Chinese laborers. Agoston Harazthy was a Hungarian-born farmer who produced his "Report on Grapes and Wines in California" in 1859 for the State Agricultural Society, and two years later, brought back two-hundred thousand cuttings from Europe under the patronage of the state legislature to bootstrap the wine industry. He basically founded the Napa wine world we know today.

So overall there are some fun stories and a lot of well-worn tales. Perhaps as a refresher or an introduction it provides some value. I would advise most to skip it.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A prodigious project, Kevin Starr’s California condenses the history of the state to about 350 pages. While filled with facts, the writing is understandably dense at times, and also incomplete. But I enjoyed the book quite a lot anyway, especially the literary references. I knew that the state was named for a mythical island described by Montalvo, but that’s an exceptional way to begin a book. This island, I learned, was “very close to the side of the Terrestrial Paradise.” Indeed.

The structure of the book is to look at one aspect of California through time, then go to the next aspect and do the same. It makes the ride a little rough. I didn’t care for the audiobook reader, who mispronounced many names, but when I checked out the print copy, it was even more “too many facts all at once.” So, I went back to the audiobook and bore with the mispronunciations.

In addition to the expected chapters on First People, Spanish Colonial times, Mexican California, the Gold Rush, American California, and the World Wars, more are even more enjoyable chapters on modernish culture. My favorites were about artists, filmmakers, and writers, and about science and technology. There are thought provoking chapters on labor movements and politics, for those so inclined.

The book ends just as Governor Gerry Brown, during his second term, worked his tough but fair love magic to balance the State budget after Arnie (Schwartzenegger)’s bogus term following the even more bogus recall of Gray Davis. Some of California’s history I’d rather forget about. Still, it’s good to take an honest look, lest we repeat it.

[Sylvie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This a book I’ve been meaning to read for some time but non-fiction is always a hard sell in terms of getting me to actually pick it up. Generally, I prefer to listen to this type of thing as an audiobook. Given the topic, I decided to take it on my recent cross-country drive, which started with an eight-hour drive through the state. I have to say I was a little disappointed. If you don’t know Kevin Starr, he is a historian who produced a seven-book chronological series about Americans and the California Dream, so I thought this one-volume book would be a condensed narrative of that. Instead, it was far more encyclopedic than I thought it would be, yet with very patchy coverage of important places and events and, while there was lots of detail on some subjects, nothing really tied the various elements into an overarching thematic narrative. It is also overly focused on elites and the Bay Area. I live in San Francisco and love it, but do I really want a book trying to cover all of California history in only 400 pages to endlessly wax rhapsodic about the architectural plans for Stanford University over discussing Mulholland and water delivery to Los Angeles? No I do not. I think I should probably delve into the longer series and see if maybe this skewed presentation is simply a result of trying to cover so much in so few pages. But, if they are as dry as this volume, I’m not sure how far I’ll get.

[Thomas Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recently, I finished Kevin Starr's "California: a History," which I had heard recommended from various sources as the best introduction to the history of our state. It brings you in to the story of how California became what it is today (ending with the Schwartzenegger years). I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to complete their vision of the story of our state and get a glimpse of the spirit of California as well.
He links Spanish and Mexican Alta California to the state that grew out of the gold rush in a way that highlights he continuity between the two. I thought his covering of the missions was surprisingly superficial and condemnatory - not at all indicative of the rest of the book, though. The second part of the book shifts to a thematic approach, so it can be a little hard to keep track of the chronology at times. He is careful to include the development of the arts and the way they reflected on and even influenced the history of California.
For its length, this book provides an in-depth and comprehensive look at the story of California which succeeds in its stated goal of explaining how the state became what it is today.