The Elusive Eden: A New History of California

by Rice, Richard; Bullough, William; Orsi, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780072418101
• ISBN10: 0072418109
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-12-11
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages

Summary

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 a major theme or issue for a particular period in California's history. The first chapter of each part is a narrative that spotlights and dramatizes the personal responses of significant individuals at critical moments of historical change. The authors stress issues of current importance such as: ethnic groups, women, environmental history and social and cultural history.

Table of Contents

PART I: PROLOGUE

CHAPTER 1: Californians and their History: Myths and Realities

CHAPTER 2: The Natural Setting

CHAPTER 3: The Native Peoples

PART II: EUROPEANS AND INDIANS: THE CALIFORNIA EXPERIENCE

CHAPTER 4: Estanislao's Rebellion

CHAPTER 5: Explorers and Indians

CHAPTER 6: Spanish California

PART III: THE PASTORAL ERA

CHAPTER 7: The Bear Flag Revolt

CHAPTER 8: Mexican California

CHAPTER 9: Foreign Penetration of California

PART IV: GOLD AND THE AMERICANIZATION OF CALIFORNIA

CHAPTER 10: Dame Shirley: A Yankee Lady in the California Mines

CHAPTER 11: The New El Dorad

CHAPTER 12: The Thirty-First State

PART V: THE RAILROAD ERA

CHAPTER 13: Confrontation at Mussel Slough

CHAPTER 14: The Coming of the Railroad

CHAPTER 15: California's Railway Era: Economic Development and Social Unrest

PART VI: CALIFORNIA AND THE NATION, 1880-1920

CHAPTER 16: San Francisco's Blind Boss

CHAPTER 17: Beginnings of Modern California

CHAPTER 18: Progressive California

PART VII: BETWEEN THE WARS, 1920-1940

CHAPTER 19: Super Sister: Aimee Semple McPherson in Los Angeles

CHAPTER 20: Prosperity and the Rise of Southern California

CHAPTER 21: The Depression Decade

PART VIII: WORLD WAR II AND POSTWAR EXPANSION

CHAPTER 22: A Question of Loyalty

CHAPTER 23: World War II: The Beginning of a New Era

CHAPTER 24: Amazing Growth: After World War II

PART IX: The 1960's and After

CHAPTER 25: Prologues to Violence: Genesis of a Ghetto

CHAPTER 26: Dreams Deferred: The 1960's

CHAPTER 27: Eras of Limits: Ronald Reagan, Jerry Brown, and After

Part X: ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY: CRISIS IN THE MOST POPULOUS STATE

CHAPTER 28: Delta and the Peripheral Canal: California's Environmental Crisis in Microcosm

CHAPTER 29: California: Eden or Wasteland

CHAPTER 30: Challenges of Change