California (U.S. state)

California is a state of the United States. California is located on the west coast of the North American continent. The major metropolitan areas are Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. "Silicon Valley" is the informal name of the computer-producing region centered on San Jose, south of San Francisco. In 2007, 10% of the population of the United States lived in California.

History

The United States captured California in 1846 as part of the Mexican War; it paid compensation to Mexico through the the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848. California never was a territory; it went from military control by the U.S. Army to statehood in 1850.

Politics

The current governor of California is Arnold Schwarzenegger, a moderate member of the Republican Party. However, the state generally votes for Democratic candidates for president, has a liberal Democratic majority in the legislature and congressional delegation. San Francisco, is a major liberal bastion, while Los Angeles is a major factor in political fundraising for national politicians of all stripes.

Agriculture

In the Los Angeles area the San Gabriel Mountains' alluvial fans in the foothills and valleys were ideal for citrus cultivation, By 1900 planned residential communities or "colonies" sprang up in the midst of the steadily expanding orange groves. Citrus growers needed laborers and imported successive groups of ethnic minority workers. After experimenting with Sikh, Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino laborers between the 1870s and 1900, growers began hiring Mexican immigrants in larger numbers. Prized for their proximity and their willingness to work hard and cheap, Mexicans gradually supplanted other workers in the region. By the 1920s, some 150,000 to 200,000 Mexicans had taken over most citrus jobs.

Geolography

Historic Points of Interest

Historic Theaters of California

Historic Homes of California

Bibliography

Surveys

• Bakken, Gordon Morris. California History: A Topical Approach (2003)
• Hubert Howe Bancroft. The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, vol 18-24, History of California to 1890; complete text online;
• Cherny, Robert W., Richard Griswold del Castillo, and Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo. Competing Visions: A History Of California (2005)
• Cleland, Robert Glass. A History of California: The American Period (1922) 512pp online edition
• Hittell, Theodore Henry. History of California (4 vol 1898) online edition
• Rawls, James J. ed. New Directions In California History: A Book of Readings (1988)
• Rawls, James and Walton Bean. California: An Interpretive History (8th ed 2003)
• Rice, Richard B., William A. Bullough, and Richard J. Orsi. Elusive Eden: A New History of California 3rd ed (2001)
• Rolle, Andrew F. California: A History 6th ed. (2003)
• Sucheng, Chan , and Spencer C. Olin, eds. Major Problems in California History (1996), readings in primary and secondary sources
• Starr, Kevin. (Note that there are numerous editions of this monumental state history, with slight title changes)
  • Starr, Kevin California: A History (2005), synthesis in 370 pp.
  • Americans and the California Dream, 1850-1915 (1973)
  • Inventing the Dream: California through the Progressive Era (1986)
  • Material Dreams: Southern California through the 1920s(1991)
  • Endangered Dreams : The Great Depression in California (1997)
  • The Dream Endures: California Enters the 1940s (1997)
  • Embattled Dreams: California in War and Peace, 1940-1950 (2003)
  • Coast of Dreams: California on the Edge, 1990-2003. Knopf, 2004. 784 pp.

Environment, agriculture, water

• Carle, David. Introduction to Water in California. U. of California Press, 2004. 261 pp.
• Deverell, William and Hise, Greg, eds. Land of Sunshine: An Environmental History of Metropolitan Los Angeles. U. of Pittsburgh Press, 2005. 350 pp. excerpt and online search
• Godfrey, Anthony. The Ever-Changing View: A History of the National Forests in California. US Forest Service, 2005. 657 pp.
• Griggs, Gary; Patsch, Kiki; and Savoy, Lauret, eds. Living with the Changing California Coast. U. of California Press, 2005. 540 pp.
• Hundley Jr., Norris. The Great Thirst: Californians and Water-A History (2nd ed 2001) excerpt and text search
• Isenberg, Andrew C. Mining California: An Ecological History. Hill & Wang, 2005. 242 pp.
• Jelinek, Lawrence. Harvest Empire: A History of California Agriculture (1982) (ISBN 0-87835-131-0)
• Merchant, Carolyn ed. Green Versus Gold: Sources In California's Environmental History (1998) readings in primary and secondary sources excerpt and text search
• Pincetl, Stephanie S. Transforming California: A Political History of Land Use and Development (2003) excerpt and text search
• Righter, Robert W. The Battle over Hetch Hetchy: America's Most Controversial Dam and the Birth of Modern Environmentalism. Oxford U. Press, 2005. 303 pp.
• Sackman, Douglas Cazaux. Orange Empire: California and the Fruits of Eden. U. of California Press, 2005. 386 pp.
• Street, Richard Steven. Beasts of the Field: A Narrative History of California Farmworkers, 1769-1913. Stanford U. Press, 2004. 904 pp.

Ethnicity, gender

• Abelmann, Nancy, and John Lie. Blue Dreams: Korean Americans and the Los Angeles Riots (1995) online edition
• Camarillo, Albert. Chicanos in a Changing Society: From Mexican Pueblos to American Barrios in Santa Barbara and Southern California, 1848-1930. (1979) 336 pp.
• Camarillo, Albert. Chicanos in California: A history of Mexican Americans in California (1984) 139pp, for middle schools.
• Camarillo, Albert M., “Cities of Color: The New Racial Frontier in California’s Minority-Majority Cities,” Pacific Historical Review, 76 (Feb. 2007), 1–28.
• Espiritu, Yen Le. Home Bound: Filipino American Lives across Cultures, Communities, and Countries. U. of California Press, 2003. 271 pp. excerpt and text search
• Hayes-Bautista, David E. La Nueva California: Latinos in the Golden State. U. of California Press, 2004. 263 pp. excerpt and text search
• Kahn, Ava F. and Dollinger, Marc, eds. California Jews. U. Press of New England, 2003. 196 pp. excerpt and text search
• Matsumoto, Valerie J. Farming the Home Place: A Japanese American Community in California, 1919-1982 (1994) excerpt and text search
• Matthews, Glenna. Silicon Valley, Women, and the California Dream: Gender, Class, and Opportunity in the Twentieth Century. Stanford U. Press, 2003. 313 pp.
• Pitt, Leonard. The Decline of the Californios: A Social History of the Spanish-Speaking Californians, 1846-1890 (1966, 1999) online excerpt and search
• Pitti, Stephen J. The Devil in Silicon Valley: Northern California, Race, and Mexican Americans (2003) 320pp; online excerpt and search
• Saxton, Alexander. The Indispensable Enemy: Labor and the Anti-Chinese Movement in California (1971) online excerpt and search
• Sides, Josh. L.A. City Limits: African American Los Angeles from the Great Depression to the Present. U. of California Press, 2003. 288 pp. online excerpts and search
• Swiontek, Danielle Jean. With Ballots and Pocketbooks: Women, Labor, and Reform in Progressive California (2006)

Gold rush

• Brands, H.W. The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream (2003) excerpt and text search
• Burns, John F. and Richard J. Orsi, eds; Taming the Elephant: Politics, Government, and Law in Pioneer California U of California Press, 2003 online edition
• Starr, Kevin and Richard J. Orsi eds. Rooted in Barbarous Soil: People, Culture, and Community in Gold Rush California (2001)

Politics and economics

• Cannon, Lou. Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power Public Affairs. (2003) detailed biography online excerpts
• Dallek, Matthew. The Right Moment: Ronald Reagan's First Victory and the Decisive Turning Point in American Politics. (2004). Study of 1966 election as governor. online excerpts and search
• Erie, Steven P. Globalizing L.A.: Trade, Infrastructure, and Regional Development. Stanford U. Press, 2004. 310 pp. blurb
• Giventer, Lawrence. Governing California (2003), short textbook; excerpt and texts search
• Lotchin, Roger W. Fortress California, 1910-1961 (2002) excerpt and online search
• McAfee, Ward. California's Railroad Era, 1850-1911 (1973)
• Miller, Sally M., and Daniel A. Cornford eds. American Labor in the Era of World War II (1995)] essays by scholars, mostly on California online edition
• Mowry, George E. The California Progressives (1963), early 20th century
• Olin, Spencer. California Politics, 1846-1920 (1981)
• Orsi, Richard J. Sunset Limited: The Southern Pacific Railroad and the Development of the American West, 1850-1930. U. of California Press, 2005. 615 pp. excerpt and online search
• Putnam, Jackson K. Jess: The Political Career of Jesse Marvin Unruh. U. Press of America, 2005. 462 pp.
• Rarick, Ethan. California Rising: The Life and Times of Pat Brown. U. of California Press, 2005. 501 pp.
• Sabin, Paul. Crude Politics: The California Oil Market, 1900-1940. U. of California Press, 2005. 307 pp.
• Schrag, Peter. Paradise Lost: California's Experience, America's Future. 3d ed. (original publ. 1998). Berkeley: U. of California Press, 2004. 370 pp.
• Schrag, Peter. California: America's High-Stakes Experiment (2006) excerpts and online search
• Tutorow, Norman E. The Governor: The Life and Legacy of Leland Stanford, a California Colossus. Clark, 2004. 2 vol. 1146 pp.
• Williams, R. Hal. The Democratic Party and California Politics, 1880-1896 (1973)

Pre 1846

• Hurtado, Albert L. John Sutter: A Life on the North American Frontier. U. of Oklahoma Press, 2006. 412 pp. excerpt and online search
• Jackson, Robert H. Missions and the Frontiers of Spanish America: A Comparative Study of the Impact of Environmental, Economic, Political, and Socio-Cultural Variations on the Missions in the Rio de la Plata Region and on the Northern Frontier of New Spain. Scottsdale, Ariz.: Pentacle, 2005. 592 pp.
• Lightfoot, Kent G. Indians, Missionaries, and Merchants: The Legacy of Colonial Encounters on the California Frontiers. U. of California Press, 1980. 355 pp. excerpt and online search

Localities

• Deverell, William and Hise, Greg, eds. Land of Sunshine: An Environmental History of Metropolitan Los Angeles. U. of Pittsburgh Press, 2005. 350 pp. excerpt and online search
• Erie, Steven P. Globalizing L.A.: Trade, Infrastructure, and Regional Development. Stanford U. Press, 2004. 310 pp. blurb
• Fogelson, Robert M. The Fragmented Metropolis: Los Angeles, 1850-1930 (1993) excerpt and online search
• García, Matt. A World of Its Own: Race, Labor, and Citrus in the Making of Greater Los Angeles, 1900-1970 (2001),
• Halle, David, ed. New York and Los Angeles: Politics, Society, and Culture. A Comparative View. U. of Chicago Press, 2003. 558 pp. excerpt and text search
• Lécuyer, Christophe. Making Silicon Valley: Innovation and the Growth of High Tech, 1930-1970. M.I.T. Press, 2006. 393 pp.
• Pitt, Leonard, and Dale Pitt. Los Angeles A to Z: An Encyclopedia of the City and County (2000) excerpt and text search
• Pryde, Philip R. San Diego: An Introduction to the Region (2004)
• Scott, Allen J. On Hollywood: The Place, the Industry. Princeton U. Press, 2005. 200 pp. excerpt and text search
• Sitton, Tom and William F, Deverell, eds. Metropolis in the Making: Los Angeles in the 1920s (2001) excerpt and text search
• Valle, Victor M. and Torres, Rodolfo D. Latino Metropolis. 2000. 249 pp. on Los Angeles

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External links

• textbook by the California Historical Society based on an annotated timeline
• provides a short history of the mission system and details on each individual mission
• [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/cbhtml/cbintro.html, from Library of Congress; essays on state to 1900; links to primary sources
• a research bibliography
• a links to teachable topics
• teacher guides
• for classroom activities and assignments based on U. C. Berkeley’s digital library on California history

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