The Seven States of California: A Natural and Human History

I picked this book up as natural history, and have indeed learned much about it, getting beyond a simple coast/valley/mountains/desert mindset into the different mountain regions, their formation and more. Of course, it's arguable that the way Fradkin breaks up the coast ranges into separate sections is more social history than natural history. But that's fine. Speaking of that, his phrase names for each section also reflect social history as much as natural history. And are insightful in both ways. Fradkin paints a good social history, not just of California as a whole but each of its regions individually, such as loggers in the northern coast, corporate farmers in the Central Valley, the paradoxes of Los Angeles, and so forth. I would recommend this book to native or semi-native Californios as a fresh look at their state, as well as to outsiders.

A great book and a good read. Patrica Nelson Limerick's Legacy of Conquest meets John McPhee's Assembling California. Part human geography, part revisionist history, part travel narrative, Fradkin looks at events big and small from a perspective other than the railroad, mining, and timber barons, and the civic boosters of the Golden State. One focus is on the untold stories of the Native Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Irish and the others marginalized in previous histories. Another focus is the realm of the natural world (Grizzly bear, salmon, the Cascade volcanos e.g.)and how it influenced the past and how it is reflected into the present, sometimes ironically. Fredkin weaves these together with his personal experience and research and produces a very readable, entertaining and often disconcerting whole. I have spent much time in the past reseaching California's history for professional and academic purposes and this book taught me much. Highly recommended.

Although the books is billed as presenting an ecological history of California, it appears that this is mainly to help sell it. Where Fradkin excels is in uncovering little-known social history, particularly around racial strife. There's a lot of us-vs-them in this state's history that's rarely talked about. The great thing is, the author presents a coherent, readable history, rather than a tiresome sermon from a soapbox. Worth a read.