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The Elusive Eden: A New History of California | 
 enlarge | Authors: Richard Rice, William Bullough, Richard Orsi, Richard Rice, William Bullough, Richard Orsi
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
Category: Book
Buy Used: $35.78
New (11) Used (29) from $35.78
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 436497
Media: Paperback
Edition: 3
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 720
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 9 x 7.3 x 1.1
ISBN: 0072418109
Dewey Decimal Number: 979.4
EAN: 9780072418101
ASIN: 0072418109
Publication Date: December 11, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The Elusive Eden charts the historical development of California, beginning with the evolution of the landscape and climate and the arrival of the first inhabitants, the Indians, through social, political, and environmental controversies of the present and the future. The book portrays a land of remarkable richness and complexity, settled by waves of people from diverse cultures. The text is organized chronologically into 10 parts, each developing a major theme or issue for a particular period in California's history. The first chapter of each part is a narrative that spotlights and dramatizes the personal responses of significant individuals at critical moments of historical change. The authors stress issues of current importance such as: ethnic groups, women, environmental history and social and cultural history..
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great Book! March 22, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I used this book so much in my California and Politics class. It is very descriptive and helpful. The headings make it easy to study, and know exactly what you are reading about. There are lots of interesting pictures, as well as political cartoons. It was a very helpful book in understanding the diverse and colorful history of California. Read it and check it out for yourself.
History of California August 7, 2000
12 out of 15 found this review helpful
I had to use this book for a class I took at the University of California, Santa Barbara (History 177 -- Summer 1999). I thought the book was great in certain areas (prehistoric times, geography, and the native peoples), but deficient in others (water development, railroads, Bear Flag Revolt, gold rush, automobile). Also, California's history is much too complicated to be crammed into this book -- the author should have divided it up regionally, or on a time line to allow himself to get more in depth with this material. Otherwise, if you are interested in a good, yet incomplete overview of the history of the Golden State, read this book!
 Elusive Eden Captured February 15, 2000
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
History can be exciting, especially when the high points are rendered with such immediacy and clarity. California is both a microcosm and macrocaosm of American History. Richard Rice makes this connection resonant from the original Sutter's Mill gold rush to the current Silicon Valley "gold rush". The themes that define California are U.S. history writ large. Rice lets the reader appreciate California from a variety of personal perspectives: Henry Dana's in "Two Years Before The Mast", Leland Stanford and the other "robber barrons", Hiram Johnson and the reformers, into world war two and the Nisei internees, down through Reagan and the Brown family, and into current times. The history of water rights, which was the basis of the movie Chinatown, becomes a compelling and more accurate story here. The lucid prose is admirably supported by evocative photography. Discover California as it really was and is.
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