California Gold

What a wonderful history lesson in this fiction novel. Jakes blends the history of California and throughout the book as well as at the back, he verifies actual historical dates. The story allowed me to understand more Sutter's Fort, the gold rush country, San Francisco and the places in and around Sacremento, Donner's Pass to Squaw Valley that I have visited. I look forward to reading more of Mr. Jakes books.

There are some people that feel that reading fiction is a waste of time. For people giving a second thought to this line of thinking, this would be a book worthy of attention.Understanding history requires a context that cannot be defined with a simple equation or any number of footnotes. Fiction makes this possible and John Jake's efforts in this book should be noteworthy as well as entertaining.As with anything worth value... Read Full Review

California Gold has it all! Lust, greed, amition, and historical tie-ins all in one! I have read and re-read this wonderful work of fiction 6 times at last count. I never become bored with it. In fact, some of the book's fabulous historical references have even lead me on some great adventures as a tourist in both San Francisco and the Los Angeles area.

Vivid characters make this one of Jakes' best. Although he's usually more enjoyable when writing about families (the Crowns and Kents) I enjoyed this book a lot, too. Vivid and believable, Mack Chance was a bigger-than-life yet human protagonist to whom I could truly relate. Wyatt Paul as a depraved villain made my skin crawl- his best (worst) villain yet, in my opinion!

I thoroughly enjoyed this exceptional novel by John Jakes. Previously I had read only the Bicentennial Series-Kent Family Chronicals, which I loved. I liked California Gold because, being from California, I loved the rich historic information. It was more than 49's and/or movie stars. I loved reading about Hearst and Bierce, and the fact that the story ends in my neck of the woods, Riverside. The California orange-growing... Read Full Review