979.4: History of California

Items this collection will discuss the history of the state of California. In addition to discussing state history, this collection will also feature books that cover the history of notable cities/towns or places in California (ex. Silicon Valley, Ghost Towns, State/National Parks) as well as significant events (ex. the Gold Rush, Orange County Fair) that occurred in the state.

Updated July 7, 2023
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Huntington Beach Public Library
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Paper Book
Before its incorporation in May 1957, Santa Fe Springs had a vibrant past that brought the area to prominence several times throughout its history. It was the hub for the early Spanish rancho of Jose Manuel Nieto, the holder of the largest Spanish land grant in California. Later, after a sulfur hot...

3

An American genocide : the United States and the California Indian catastrophe, 1846-1873
Madley, Benjamin
Paper Book
The first full account of the government-sanctioned genocide of California Indians under United States rule   Winner of the 2016 Los Angeles Times Book Award for History and a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice ...

4

The associates : four capitalists who created California
Rayner, Richard
Paper Book
A true-life tale of ruthless ambition, staggering greed, and the making of a nation. One hundred forty years ago, four men rose from their position as middle-class merchants in Sacramento, California, to become the force behind the transcontinental railroad. In the course of...

5

Baseball in Orange County
Epting, Chris
Paper Book
Organized baseball in Orange County began in the late 1880s when community teams began forming among oil well workers. Around 1900, a farm boy from Kansas named Walter Johnson arrived with his family. Soon, the flame-throwing future hall-of-fame pitcher would be dominating games throughout the...

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Bolsa Chica: Its History from Prehistoric Times to the Present
Carberg, David
Paper Book
The history of a 1200 acre coastal marsh in Orange County, California known as Bolsa Chica. The story begins in prehistoric times and continues through two decades of citizen involvement that resulted in the marsh's rescue from becoming a massive marina development. The book ends with a description...

7

The Browns of California : the family dynasty that transformed a state and shaped a nation
Pawel, Miriam
Paper Book
"Miriam Pawel's fascinating book . . . illuminates the sea change in the nation's politics in the last half of the 20th century."--New York Times Book Review California Book Award Gold Medal Winner * Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize * A...

8

California : a history
Rolle, Andrew F.
Paper Book
Suitable as a course text or as a narrative for general readers. Begins with the earliest known inhabitants, and progresses through the long Spanish rule and US conquest to the present. First published in 1963, and here revised from the 1987 edition to include more material on women, the environment...

9

California : a history
Starr, Kevin.
Paper Book
California has always been our Shangri-la–the promised land of countless pilgrims in search of the American Dream. Now the Golden State’s premier historian, Kevin Starr, distills the entire sweep of California’s history into one splendid volume. From the age of exploration to the...

10

California : an American history
Faragher, John Mack
Paper Book
A concise and lively history of California, the most multicultural state in the nation   "A masterful history."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)   "Faragher takes the reader on a captivating journey through myriad...

11

The California Gold Rush and the coming of the Civil War
Richards, Leonard L.
Paper Book
It has always been understood that the 1848 discovery of gold in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada influenced the battle over the admission of California to the Union. But now, in this revelatory study, award-winning historian Leonard L. Richards makes clear the links between the Gold Rush and many...

12

California missions & presidios : the history & beauty of the Spanish missions
Leffingwell, Randy
Paper Book
The missions and presidios of California are among the state's oldest structures and are the most visited historical monuments. These notable buildings are an integral part of California's history. The state's recorded history essentially began with the Spanish missions along the ambitious...

13

City at the edge of forever : Los Angeles reimagined
Lunenfeld, Peter
Paper Book
An engaging account of the uniquely creative spirit and bustling cultural ecology of contemporary Los Angeles How did Los Angeles start the 20th century as a dusty frontier town and end up a century later as one of the globe's supercities - with unparalleled cultural, economic,...

14

Dear Los Angeles : the city in diaries and letters 1542 to 2018
Kipen, David
Paper Book
A rich mosaic of diary entries and letters from Marilyn Monroe, Cesar Chavez, Susan Sontag, Albert Einstein, and many more, this is the story of Los Angeles as told by locals, transplants, and some just passing through. "Los Angeles is refracted in all its irreducible,...

15

Filipinos in Los Angeles
Koerner, Mae Respicio.
Paper Book
The year 2006 marked the centennial of Filipino migration to the United States, when 15 migrant workers called sakadas arrived in Hawaii to work on the islands' sugar plantations. Today the largest concentration of Filipinos outside of the Philippines exists in Southern California. In the 1920s, the...

16

Fountain Valley
Gibb, Daniel Aaron
Paper Book
Along the banks of the Santa Ana River, between the larger cities of Santa Ana to the east and Huntington Beach to the west, lies Fountain Valley, named for its abundance of natural artesian wells and once swamp-covered landscapes. Formerly a portion of the Rancho Las Bolsas land grant of the late...

17

Ghost towns & mining camps of California : a history & guide
Nadeau, Remi A.
Paper Book
Brings to life the turbulent times in the heyday of each town and guides the visitor to the sights that are relies of those times. Historic photos.

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Ghost towns of California : your guide to the hidden history and Old West haunts of California
Varney, Philip.
Paper Book
 Ghost Towns of California is a guidebook to the state's best boomtowns. Once thriving, these abandoned mining camps and pioneer villages still ring with history.  Ghost town expert Philip Varney equips you with everything you need to know to explore these remnants of the...

19

Golden dreams : California in an age of abundance, 1950-1963
Starr, Kevin.
Paper Book
A narrative tour de force that combines wide-ranging scholarship with captivating prose, Kevin Starr's acclaimed multi-volume Americans and the California Dream is an unparalleled work of cultural history. In this volume, Starr covers the crucial postwar period - 1950 to 1963 - when the California...

20

The golden fortress : California's border war on Dust Bowl refugees
Lascher, Bill
Paper Book
In February 1936, Los Angeles police officers drove hundreds of miles to California's state borders with one mission: turn back anyone deemed too poor to enter. Myths of the Golden State's abundance enticed thousands of Americans uprooted by the Depression, but those who created...

21

The golden shore : California's love affair with the sea
Helvarg, David
Paper Book
ADenver PostBestseller ABooklistTop Literary Travel Book of the Year From the first human settlements to the latest marine explorations,The Golden Shoretells the tale of the history, culture, and changing nature of California's coasts and ocean....

22

Historic Tales of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park: Big Trees Grove
Osterberg, Deborah
Paper Book
Visiting the redwoods in nineteenth-century California meant coming to Big Trees Grove, now part of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. This forest of giants in the Santa Cruz Mountains attained fame through the 1846 exploits of explorer John Charles Frémont, whose namesake tree still stands. Saved...

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Historic Wintersburg in Huntington Beach
Urishima, Mary Adams
Paper Book
Designated a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2015, Wintersburg Village's unique history is representative of the Japanese pioneer experience on the West Coast. Japan's post-Meiji period ended the feudal system, creating in the late 1800s social changes that...

24

Historical atlas of California : with original maps
Hayes, Derek
Paper Book
Using nearly five hundred historical maps and many other illustrations--from rough sketches drawn in the field to commercial maps to beautifully rendered works of art--this lavishly illustrated volume is the first to tell the story of California's past from a unique visual perspective. Covering...

25

Huntington Beach Chronicles: The Heart of Surf City
Epting, Chris
Paper Book
Amid the tourist bustle in the biggest beach city in Orange County, hometown personalities and their stories are Chris Epting's business. As a widely published author and columnist for the Huntington Beach Independent," Epting has covered the famous and not-so-famous, the local people, places and...

26

Huntington Beach Lifeguards
Weisser, Kai
Paper Book
The Surf City USA® lifeguards and marine safety officers protect and serve one of the busiest and most famous beaches in the world. World-class surfing events, volleyball tournaments, and other activities transform Huntington Beach's waterfront into a sea of humanity regularly each summer. The...

27

Indians, Missionaries, and Merchants: The Legacy of Colonial Encounters on the California Frontiers
Lightfoot, Kent
Paper Book
California's earliest European colonists-Russian merchants and Spanish missionaries-depended heavily on Native Americans for labor to build and maintain their colonies, but they did so in very different ways. This richly detailed book brings together disparate skeins of the past-including little...

28

It happened in Hollywood : remarkable events that shaped history
Schiller, Gerald A.
Paper Book
From the day in 1893 that Gigi and Hobart Johnstone Whitley stood on a hill overlooking the areathey christened "Hollywood," to modern-day tales of murder and mayhem, It Happened in Hollywood recounts in thirty short episodes the behind-the-scenes events that shaped Tinseltown.

29

The king and queen of Malibu : the true story of the battle for paradise
Randall, David K.
Paper Book
New York Times best-selling author David K. Randall spins a remarkable tale of the American West and the desire of one couple to preserve paradise. Frederick and May Rindge, the unlikely couple whose love story propelled Malibu's transformation from an untamed ranch in the...

30

Legendary Locals of Huntington Beach
Epting, Chris
Paper Book
For over 100 years, Huntington Beach, a.k.a. "Surf City, USA," has come to represent the true beach culture of Southern California. Originally called Pacific City, it was when railroad magnate Henry Huntington first ran his train line down in 1904 from Los Angeles, approximately 40 miles north, that...

31

Missions of Southern California
Osborne, James.
Paper Book
Touring south to north, from San Diego through Santa Barbara County, this unique compendium takes the reader through the Southern California Mission System as portrayed on vintage postcards. The book elaborates on the missions' myriad functions along the coastal El Camino Real through several...

32

Orange County : a personal history
Arellano, Gustavo
Paper Book
National bestselling author, syndicated columnist, and voice of the Mexican-American community Arellano further enhances cross-cultural understanding with this spicy, entertaining, and poignant follow up to his critically acclaimed debut Ask a Mexican. Illustrations throughout.

33

Orange County Pioneers: Oral Histories from the Works Progress Administration
Epting, Charles
Paper Book
Orange County's pioneer history is filled with harrowing tales every bit as entertaining as a western novel. These stories, culled from oral histories recorded by old-timers in the 1930s as part of the Works Progress Administration, offer a rarely seen look into Orange County's frontier days. From...

34

Pacific Electric red cars
Walker, Jim
Paper Book
Of the rail lines created at the turn of the 20th century, in order to build interurban links through Southern California communities around metropolitan Los Angeles, the Pacific Electric grew to be the most prominent of all. The Pacific Electric Railway is synonymous with Henry Edwards Huntington,...

35

Palo Alto : a history of California, capitalism, and the world
Harris, Malcolm
Paper Book
Named One of the Year's Best Books by VULTURE * THE NEW REPUBLIC * DAZED * WIRED * BLOOMBERG * ESQUIRE * SALON * THE NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB The history of Silicon Valley, from railroads to microchips, is an "extraordinary" story of disruption and destruction, told...

36

Passion and principle : John and Jessie Frémont, the couple whose power, politics, and love shaped nineteenth-century America
Denton, Sally.
Paper Book
She was the daughter of powerful Missouri politician Thomas Hart Benton and was a savvy political operator who played confidante and advisor to the inner circle of the highest political powers in the country. He was a key figure in western exploration and California's first senator, and became...

37

A people's guide to Orange County
Lewinnek, Elaine
Paper Book
One of the Top Urban Planning Books of 2022, Planetizen The full and fascinating guidebook that Orange County deserves. A People's Guide to Orange County is an alternative tour guide that documents sites of...

38

The poker bride : the first Chinese in the Wild West
Corbett, Christopher.
Paper Book
When gold rush fever gripped the globe in 1849, thousands of Chinese immigrants came through San Francisco seeking fortune. In The Poker Bride, Christopher Corbett uses a little-known Idaho legend as a lens into this Chinese experience. Before 1849, the Chinese in the United States were...

39

Roadside history of California
Pittman, Ruth.
Paper Book
Pittman writes with graceful ease and contagious enthusiasm about the missions, the gold rush, the rich cultural diversity, and issues as old as California - water, social programs, the environment, and more.

40

Rock me on the water : 1974 : the year Los Angeles transformed movies, music, television, and politics
Brownstein, Ronald
Paper Book
New York Times Bestseller Editors' Choice --New York Times Book Review In this exceptional cultural history, Atlantic Senior Editor Ronald Brownstein--"one of America's best political journalists" (The Economist)--tells the kaleidoscopic story of...

41

Surfing in Huntington Beach
Zambrano, Mark
Paper Book
Officially known as Surf City USA®, Huntington Beach is a surf town like no other. Ever since Hawaiian transplant George Freeth "walked on water" beside the famous Huntington Beach Pier in 1914, the city has had a storied relationship with surf culture that endures to this day. Combining a rough-and...

42

The: Orange County Fair: A History of Celebration
Epting, Chris
Paper Book
The Orange County Fair is one of Southern California's most anticipated summer events. From its first year in 1890 with a few livestock exhibits and horse races, the fair evolved into what is now a month-long extravaganza of rides, games and entertainment that still celebrates the importance of...

43

University Park, Los Angeles: A Brief History
Epting, Charles
Paper Book
University Park is one of Los Angeles's most diverse and historic neighborhoods. Beginning with the founding of the University of Southern California in 1880, the area has hosted two Olympic Games and numerous presidents and been featured as a backdrop for dozens of movies, along with countless...

44

Victorian Los Angeles: From Pio Pico to Angels Flight
Epting, Charles
Paper Book
Before the oil boom and rise of Hollywood brought today's renowned landmarks to downtown Los Angeles, an entirely different and often forgotten high Victorian city existed. Prior to Union Station, there was the impressive Romanesque Arcade Station of the Southern Pacific line in the 1880s. Before...

45

Water to the angels : William Mulholland, his monumental aqueduct, and the rise of Los Angeles
Standiford, Les
Paper Book
The author of Last Train to Paradise tells the story of the largest public water project ever created--William Mulholland's Los Angeles aqueduct--a story of Gilded Age ambition, hubris, greed, and one determined man who's vision shaped the future and continues to impact us today. In 1907,...

46

West of the West : dreamers, believers, builders, and killers in the Golden State
Arax, Mark
Paper Book
Teddy Roosevelt once exclaimed, "When I am in California, I am not in the West. I am west of the West," and in this book, Mark Arax spends four years travelling up and down the Golden State to explore its singular place in the world. This is California beyond the clichés. This is California as only...

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