Coast of Dreams [Hardcover]

Kevin Starr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2005

Coast of Dreams is an astonishingly rich, thoughtful, entertaining and horrifying account of one of the most mesmerising places on earth. Kevin Starr's marvellous new book allows its readers both to revel in the Californian oddness but also to see the magic that has drawn in millions of people like bodybuilder-turned actor-turned-Govenor Schwarzenegger. The success that has made California into one of the world's biggest economies and its great generator of culture and ideas has not been cost free however and the picture that emerges from Coast of Dreams is a troubled one. Contemporary Californians are caught in the middle of a period of transformation where the state struggles to understand the diversity of its people, the confusions of its values and customs and the loss of one California and the ambiguous imposition of a new and uncharted identity.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Vivid, precise, and astute. . . . Starr's cultural range has always been broad and his grasp sure. Most important, he's able to put tastes and ways of life in historical context.”–Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Kevin Starr is nothing short of the John Muir of our times. . . . [He] is utterly fascinated by California and how it has evolved.” –Los Angeles Times

“Starr brings his magnificent, multivolume series Americans and the California Dream, the product of a quarter-century of work up to the present. An unfailingly interesting, highly readable contribution to Starr's grand series.” –Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Extraordinary. . . . Sweeping, deeply personal and insightful”–Tucson Gazette
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Kevin Starr is California's foremost historian and the author of a series of acclaimed books on the state. He is University Professor of History at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and lives in San Francisco.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 700 pages
• Publisher: Allen Lane; First Edition edition (June 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0713998466
• ISBN-13: 978-0713998467
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,868,398 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Readable, yet comprehensive modern history of California, May 10, 2006

By 

Derrick Peterman (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Coast of Dreams (Paperback)

I always approach books like this with some caution. A book on the history of California from 1990-2003 is a pretty expansive subject to cover with any reasonable depth, and too often, books like this can be dense and tedious to get through. Thankfully, this was rarely the case with Coast of Dreams, which I found to be very readable, and (gasp) at times quite entertaining.

Of course at over 600 pages, it is certainly a lot to digest. And Starr can certainly discuss virtually any subject about California with a lot of detail, and he does here. And it his enthusiasm and love for the state, warts and all, that really drives this book.

Starr is completely unafraid to expose the bad side of California. Some of the chapters on crime and gang warfare that were particularly acute in the early 90's were harrowing and difficult to read. Starr has a good grasp of the unique brand of California politics, that sometimes yields rather unusual and unique results, such as the power deregulation crisis and Schwarzeneggar becoming Governor.

On the other hand, Starr clearly enjoys writing about the unqiue elements that draws so many people to the state. Whether writing about the trendy areas of San Francisco or Los Angeles, or for the seemingly mundane opportunities that draw so many illegal immigrants, Starr shows the state has historically been for dreamers large and small. Whether California can continue to sustain all these dreams is an underlying theme of the book.

As someone who came to California from the Midwest, I found the considerable time invested reading Coast of Dreams was well worth the new found connection I have to the state of California.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars dreaming dreams of endless wealth, February 14, 2007

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Coast of Dreams (Paperback)

So this was California, in the years 1990 to 2004. Having lived in Los Angeles during that time, I could readily relate to much of what Starr wrote, especially when he talked about this city.

A long book, but you don't have to read it at one sitting. It's well suited to you leisurely reading chapter by chapter, at your own pace. Myriad aspects of California are covered. Though, as someone else remarked, Starr says little about California north of San Francisco. The book is about events in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and a little bit on San Diego and the Central Valley. The narrative style lends itself well to drawing in the reader in an engaging fashion. Which bodes well in future years, when others who then read it will have been born long after all these events. The contemporaneous account given by Starr should endure as a lasting contribution to the historical record.

For Los Angeles, the early 90s get considerable play. Especially with the 1992 race riot and the 94 Northridge quake. All overlaid on a statewide recession, exacerbated by overbuilding and aerospace shrinking after the end of the Cold War.

Naturally, Starr delves into the dot com saga. Centred on Silicon Valley, "dreaming dreams of endless wealth". Of course, you can find entire books devoted to this era. But the chapter in this book suffices well to convey the strange feeling in the air, and all that money! An envious reader could speculate as to whether it might all happen again.

If you do happen to like this book, consider checking out his earlier texts. He has written a slew of these on various aspects of California history. Most with the same fluid grace of the present book. An enjoyable way to learn more about California.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars History in the making, July 14, 2006

By 

James Ferguson (Vilnius, Lithuania) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Coast of Dreams (Paperback)

Not so much a history as it is a social documentary on the events shaping California at the turn of the millennium. Kevin Starr represents a lot of different aspects of California culture and politics, how the two come together and how the two diverge, in a series of sections that more or less cover different issuesimpacting the state. The book starts out a little pell mell, but takes shape in the middle sections, especially when he gets to "Wedge Issues." Here, he talks about the various propositions that were put forward in the 90's that divided the state politically, including an attempt to literally divide the state into three states. However, what seems to prevail in this narrative is the positivism of Californians, their ability to adapt to a constantly shifting natural and social landscape. The immigration chapters explain the various contemporary patterns, the new alignments that have emerged, and how California has come to find itself more closely wed to Mexico both culturally and economically. Attempts at closing off the border have repeatedly failed, and Starr illustrates just how much immigration has helped the state, rather than hurt it, particularly in how San Diego and Tijuana have become virtually intertwined.

Hollywood takes a back seat role in this contemporary history, which surprised me, yet you always see it lurking beneath the surface, especially in his numerous references to films that most readers would be aware of. What he does focus on is how small business is the driving force in California, illustrating how Silicon and Napa Valleys rose from cottage industries into leading world conglomerates. He also talks about how California was able to retool itself following the closure of military bases and loss of defense contracts in the 90's.

The impelling aspect of this book, however, is how cultural diversity has shaped the state, and how it continues to do so. He takes a look at the nature of development in the state, how communities have been impacted by immigration, the tensions that have arisen, the white flight, and eventually resettlement. Starr mostly deals with southern California, but takes in the Bay Area as well. You don't get much sense of what is occurring further to the north, with little more than passing references to Sacramento. To Starr's credit, he doesn't try to contain himself, but instead lay out a mosaic of impressions of the state, showing how California is constantly evolving and reshaping itself.