A World Transformed: Firsthand Accounts of California Before the Gold Rush [Paperback]

Joshua Paddison (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1890771139 | ISBN-13: 978-1890771133 | Publication Date: March 1999

A World Transformed gathers together the writings of early European explorers, missionaries, sea captains and other visitors, from the first Spaniards to glimpse San Francisco Bay in 1769 to the eve of the gold rush. In 15 literate and accessible accounts by Father Juan Crespi, George Vancouver, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Edwin Bryant and others, the transformation of San Francisco (and by extension, all of California) unfolds before us. A land of bountiful and open meadows, oak woodlands, plentiful game, and countless distinct groups of native people becomes dominated by a Spanish mission and presidio. A Mexican town grows up and eventually becomes a small city inhabited largely by Bostonians and other Anglo merchants, engaged in trade with the Clipper ships of the East Coast. Modern California emerges, not suddenly but perhaps inevitably.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Writer-historian Paddison brings together 11 eyewitness accounts of California from the mid-1700s up to the gold rush days of the 1840s. Though not strictly politically correct (one contributor refers to local Native Americans as "well-behaved good heathens"), there's a wealth of fascinating information here, including observations on all of the strange flora and fauna and detailed descriptions of native customs, daily life, and reactions to white visitors. The first accounts are from Spanish missionaries and explorers. Later, though, it's the British and Americans documenting life in California, a shift that signaled Spain's increasingly tenuous grip on this faraway territory. Interestingly, as the accounts progress, it's clear the merchant class is beginning to dominate California culturally and politically, especially in the San Francisco Bay area. Paddison's introductions to the various entries expertly flesh out the ever changing social and political contexts. Brian McCombie

From Kirkus Reviews

A useful collection of European and American accounts of California as it looked before 1848. Joining Heyday Books' strong list in revisionist-tending Californiana, freelance historian/journalist Paddisons collection draws on published reports that in many cases are available in English only in scholarly journals. He observes that the earliest European explorers, Spanish soldiers and missionaries, were initially unimpressed with what they saw: Early descriptions of California, he writes, were favorable but unenthusiastic, and Spain was unready and unwilling to invest the ships, supplies, and people necessary to settle such a far-flung land already inhabited by possibly warlike Indians. After neglecting their discovery for two centuries, Spain eventually turned to California in 1765 to establish a buffer against the encroaching French and British. Paddison opens his anthology with an account by Juan Cresp, a missionary on the Portol expedition, who surveyed the area around Monterey Bay and described it as a grand place this for a very large plenteous mission, with great amounts of good soil and trees . . . and great numbers of heathens, the finest and best-mannered that have been met in the whole journey. The Spanish kept California to themselves only for a short time; soon thereafter the English seafarer George Vancouver arrived in San Francisco Bay, not long after a French navigator named Jean Francois de La Prouse published a widely read journal that exalted the region, saying, no country is more abundant in fish and game of every description. Soon after, as Paddison's selections make clear, came Russians and Germans and, eventually, Americans, all seeking to make California their own. Paddisons anthology, accompanied by intelligent essays on aspects of the Golden States past, offers a trove of information to students of California history and general readers with an interest in the area. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Heyday Books (March 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890771139
• ISBN-13: 978-1890771133
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,311,434 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A World Brought to Life, June 8, 2004

By 

G. Austin "G" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A World Transformed: Firsthand Accounts of California Before the Gold Rush (Paperback)

In A World Transformed, Editor Joshua Paddison compiles 11 eyewitness accounts of California before the Gold Rush of 1849.

The accounts are as diverse as the landscapes they describe. From San Francisco to Santa Barbara, readers experience the journals and travelogues of a variety of people, ranging from Russian fur trappers, to Spanish Missionaries, to American merchant sailors. Not only does each description render beautiful landscapes, but forgotten customs, occupations, and ideas about the world are effortlessly presented.

Paddison is a skilled Editor. Somehow he managed to find and assemble several historical documents that read like suspenseful fiction.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History comes to life!, June 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A World Transformed: Firsthand Accounts of California Before the Gold Rush (Paperback)

In this accessible and engrossing anthology, editor Paddison portrays a pre-gold rush California that is familiar to today's Californians--diverse, contested, ever-changing. The book's firsthand accounts, framed by helpful introductions, bring to life the experiences of the missionaries, Indians, explorers, and homesteaders who populated early California. Highly recommended to anyone interested in the development (and transformation) of the American West.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fascinating first hand accounts, May 21, 1999

By 

R. J. Marsella (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A World Transformed: Firsthand Accounts of California Before the Gold Rush (Paperback)

The eye-witnesses to the early California missions left remarkably detailed accounts of mission-life from the perspective of european outsiders. The section by George Vancouver was a great find. These accounts are compiled in a way that flows very naturally from both a chronological and stylistic view. I enjoyed reading this book very much and would highly recommend it to my fellow Californians and others interested in this period of history.