California (U.S. state)

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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

See 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 conservative 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.

Geologic Points of Interest

Yosemite Valley

Mount Shasta

Mount Lassen

San Andreas Fault

Historic Points of Interest

Historic Theaters of California

Historic Homes of California

Bibliography

Surveys

Environment, agriculture, water

  • Carle, David. Introduction to Water in California. U. of California Press, 2004. 261 pp.
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Pincetl, Stephanie S. Transforming California: A Political History of Land Use and Development (2003)
  • 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.
  • Espiritu, Yen Le. Home Bound: Filipino American Lives across Cultures, Communities, and Countries. U. of California Press, 2003. 271 pp.
  • Hayes-Bautista, David E. La Nueva California: Latinos in the Golden State. U. of California Press, 2004. 263 pp.
  • Kahn, Ava F. and Dollinger, Marc, eds. California Jews. U. Press of New England, 2003. 196 pp.
  • 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)
  • 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.
  • Lotchin, Roger W. Fortress California, 1910-1961 (2002)
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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, 2005. 355 pp.

Localities

  • Camarillo, Albert M., “Cities of Color: The New Racial Frontier in California’s Minority-Majority Cities,” Pacific Historical Review, 76 (Feb. 2007), 1–28.
  • Deverell, William and Hise, Greg, eds. Land of Sunshine: An Environmental History of Metropolitan Los Angeles. U. of Pittsburgh Press, 2005. 350 pp.
  • Erie, Steven P. Globalizing L.A.: Trade, Infrastructure, and Regional Development. Stanford U. Press, 2004. 310 pp.
  • Fogelson, Robert M. The Fragmented Metropolis: Los Angeles, 1850-1930 (1993)
  • Halle, David, ed. New York and Los Angeles: Politics, Society, and Culture. A Comparative View. U. of Chicago Press, 2003. 558 pp.
  • 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)
  • Scott, Allen J. On Hollywood: The Place, the Industry. Princeton U. Press, 2005. 200 pp.
  • Sitton, Tom and William F, Deverell, eds. Metropolis in the Making: Los Angeles in the 1920s (2001)
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