"California history for grown-ups. . . . A brisk, accessible romp through nearly 500 years of social, political and economic upheaval in the Golden State."--James Sullivan, San Francisco Chronicle

"A great new book."--Del Quinton Wilber, Los Angeles Times

"Beautifully written, attentive to the local, regional, national, and international contexts of events, the book is a major achievement and will be an indispensable starting point for anyone interested in the history of California."--William Issel, Pacific Historical Review

"Faragher takes the reader on a captivating journey through myriad twists and turns of California's multicultural history, enlivened by stories of people who rarely penetrate our traditional state chronicles."--Carlos E. Cortés, University of California, Riverside

"It is often said that California has little history. But there's nothing little about this beautifully illustrated and written book, which brilliantly distills the depth and diversity of California's past."--Stephen Aron, Autry Museum of the American West

"With verve, clarity, and erudition, John Mack Faragher has wrestled California's monumental, tragic, triumphant, immense history into a single volume. This is a superb book by one of our most insightful scholars of the far West. A signal achievement."--William Deverell, Institute on California and the West

"John Mack Faragher understands the promise, and the heartbreak, of California. This is a wonderfully concentrated but comprehensive and evocative history of the most American of states."--James Fallows, coauthor of Our Towns