Customer Reviews

Fool's Paradise: A Carey McWilliams Reader (California Legacy Book)

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"Fool's Paradise" is an excellent introduction to the work of an amazing writer and astonishingly versatile public intellectual, now largely forgotten. Before editing "The Nation" for two decades, McWilliams wrote a dozen first-rate books and hundreds of penetrating articles on the exploitation of farm labor, racial and ethnic prejudice, the Japanese-American internment, California politics and culture, and the Red scare. He also served in state government and played a role in several high-profile court cases. His 1946 book, "Southern California: An Island on the Land," inspired the Oscar-winning screenplay for "Chinatown," and he is still widely regarded as the finest nonfiction writer on California--ever. Later, he published many talented young journalists in the pages of "The Nation," including Ralph Nader, Hunter S. Thompson, and Howard Zinn. Along with samples of McWilliams's own lucid writing, "Fool's Paradise" includes superb essays by his son, political theorist Wilson Carey McWilliams, and by Gray Brechin, author of "Imperial San Francisco."

I read this book for a book club that focuses on history and was not disappointed. I had never heard of the author or knew much about California's early history into the 1950's, but this collection of well written essays tells you everything you might want to know about the political, religious, historical and moral climate of California from the gold rush days to the 1940's. The essays are written from the 1920's through the 1940's and show the historical pespective of one who has lived during this time and is immensely knowledgeable about the climate of what is happening on all fronts. Excellent reference source.