Documenting the people, events, and milestones that forged the nation's most populous state, this dynamic examination provides a full history of California's founding. From the stories of great men such as John Sutter, John Bidwell, Samuel Brannan, Thomas O. Larkin, the Revered Walter Colton, and John Charles Fremont to the terrible tragedy of the Donner Party and the rapid gold fever that transformed a sleepy trickle of immigration into the torrent...