Customer Reviews

Americans and the California Dream, 1850-1915 (Americans & the California Dream)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having lived in CA since I was 15 and not being able to imagine living somewhere else, I thought this volume is a must-read for all Californians, whether born here or "naturalized". Being specifically a San Francisco resident, this book shed more light on the history of this city's beginning and "teenage years" than any other source I have come across. Here you will not just read facts about people like Jack London, Frank Norris, John Muir, John C. Fremont and Richard Henry Dana. You will learn what they contributed to the idea of California and their influence on what this state has turned out to be, for good or bad. You will also learn of lesser-known figures such as Thomas Starr King, Thomas Jordan, Isidore Duncan all of whom were immensely powerful figures in their day, but hardly known today by the average Californian. The writing got a little ploddy at the end for me. Maybe I was just tired. Until I got to the last two chapters, I would have given it a 5 score, mostly on the criteria of how much I learned from it. I look forward to reading the next few volumes.

As a native Californian (San Francisco) I read this book after seeing it cited again and again as an excellent entry point for a study of California history.

I was not disappointed. I believe this book is widely acknowledged as a classic in the field of California history, and I certainly wouldn't disagree with that judgment.

Prof. Starr attempts to illuminate the psychology of early California by providing mini-biographies of important California residents. These biographies are linked together by several recurrent themes. It is these themes that provide the thesis (theses?) of the book.

The themes are: The dark side of the optomism which characterizes the "California" personality; the harsh conflict in early times which affected the development of a Californian "civilisation" and the melding of cultures (Mexican and Californian, Northern and Southern) that produced Californian culture.

Starr focuses more on cultural rather then economic or political figures. Starr also shows a fondness for somewhat Freudian explanations for behavior (repressive parents, absent parents, neglectful parents). Given the age of the book (1975) it's hard to quibble with the inclusion of a perspective tilted towards psychological explanation.

On the whole it was a worthwhile read, and not too dense either. Recommended for those interested in the history of California and it's culture.

Kevin Starr has written a fantastic book. In Americans and the California Dream the reader is introduced to the giants of the age--Herbert Hoover, Leland Stanford, David Star Jordan, John Muir, John C. Fremont, etc. I also loved the fact that he included the lessor known personalities as well. Mr. Star clearly relates the truth behind all the myth and romance with regards to the Gold Rush. While Bret Harte is thorougly debunked, Starr acknowledges that the Gold Rush continues to hold the lure and romance that it always possessed. Anyone who wishes to be introduced to the wonderful history of California must read this. I will immediately purchase the second book of the series.

Starr's cultural history of California is more institutional history than anything else, which is not a bad thing if you like foundation studies. At the core of the book is the story of how enterprising and eccentric New Englanders attempted to tranfer their native civilization, with all its European imagery, to a new "city on the hill" at San Francisco. It's full of dates and events surrounding the history of colleges and churches and the people who founded them. One can easily sense Starr's interest in intellectual history as reflected in architecture, education and organized religion which, ironically, is a very East-coast way of looking at West-coast culture. Starr's book is excellent if you like that sort of thing, but it's not as tempting a study for those more fascinated with flesh and bone than brick and stone. Some could claim that it misses the fundamental essense of California culture altogether; a "new" civilization unencombered by pedigree and moulded by a beautiful and oppressive geography. This first book of the series is heavily centered around San Francisco and its related institutions.

Criticism aside, Dr. Starr's skill as a narrative historian is remarkable, and he should be considered in the same company as Henry Adams and Daniel Boorstin.

There are two good places to start if you want to know the history of California: the work of Carey McWilliams and this book. Starr really did his homework, and the range of detail is amazing. Like McWilliams, he knows how to tell a story, and he usually has the back-stage lore on whatever public events he describes in his lucid and very readable prose. That a fact or two occasionally get out of place (the San Diego Mission was not founded by Father Altimiri but by Junipero Serra; and San Antonio de Padua is actually in Monterey County) does not diminish the power or scope of this worthy book.

Like all Keven Starr's books on California history and culture, this one is first rate and is helps to sort out the reality of that unique mixture of hope, seductive reality and occasional disappointment that characterize the California experience.