The Ellusive Eden: A New History of California

go to Yaolee's homepage By Richard B. Rice, William A. Bullough, Richard J. Orsi.
New York: The McCraw-Hill Companies Inc. 1996.

Part I Prologue

1. Californians and their History: Myths and Realities

California's Love Affair with History
The New Eden
The Traditional View of California History
Reconsidering California History

2. The Natural Setting

California, An Island World
The Dynamic Landscape
A Mosaic of Climates
Distinctive Plant Life
A Land of Many Worlds
Water
Environment and History
The Island World Before Europeans

3. The Native Peoples

The "Digger" Stereotype
Native Origins, Languages, and Populations
Economy: Foods
Economy:Industry and Trade
Science, Ecology, and Agriculture
Religion
Politics and Society
The Arts
On the Eve of European Colonization

Part II Europeans and Indians: The California Experience

4. Estanislao's Rebellion, 1829

5. Explorers and Indians

The Meeting of Indians and Europeans
Discovery and Naming
Cabrillo's Voyage
Francis Drake in California
The Manila Galleon and Revived Exploration
Vizcaino's Expedition
California Forsaken
Explorers and Indians: An Assessment

6. Spanish California

Imperial Problems and the Founding of Spanish California
The Founding of San Francisco
The Missions
The Presidios and Pueblos
Economic Development, Labor, and Society
The European Conquest of Nature
Missions and the Acculturation of Indians
Early Indian Resistance: The San Diego and Colorado River Rebellions
Disease, Fugitives, and Horses
Spanish California on the Eve of Mexican Independence

Part III The Pastoral Era

7. The Bear Flag Revolt

8. Mexican California, 1821-1848

Establishment of Mexican Government in California
Secularization of the Missions
The Gomez Farias Plan
Secularization Under Figueroa
Political Turmoil
Rancho and Pueblo Society

9. Foregn Penetration of California

The Russians in California
The Hide-and-Tallow Traders
The Mountain Men
Mavericks
Frontier Settlers
The Breakdown of Mexican Government
American Interest
John C. Fremont
The Prize of War
Culture in Spanish and Mexican California

Part IV Gold and the Americanization of California

10. Dame Shirley: A Yankee Lady in the California Mines

11. The New El Dorado

The Great Discovery
Sources of La Bonanza
The Gold Rush of 1848
Spreading the News
By Sea to California
Crossing the Plains
Searching for La Bonanza
Mechanized Mining
Life in the Mines
Bonanza to Borrasca
Californios in the Mines
The Foreign Miners' Tax Law of 1850
"Diggers" in the Mines
Solving the "Indian Problem"

12. The Thirty-First State

The Military Interregnum
The Constitution of 1849
Statehood
Early Political Rumbles: Broderick and Gwin
Building an American State
Vigilante Justice: "Their Majesties the Mob"
The Vigilance Committee of 1856
A Cosmopolitan Society
Anti-Chinese Prejudice
Black Californios
Californios and the Land-Grant Question
Pioneer Agriculture
Land Speculation on the Urban Frontier
Cultural Americanization

Part V The Railroad Era

13. Confrontation at Mussel Slough, 1880

14. The Coming of the Railroad

Transportation Problems in Gold Rush California
Early Tanscontinental Railroad Schemes
Pioneer Rail Lines
Theodore Judah, Visionary
The Founding of the Central Pacific Railroad
The Civil War and the Transcontinental Railway
The Central Pacific Besieged
The Pacific Railway Act of 1862
Local Subsidies and Mounting Opposition to the Central Pacific
Breaking Ground
Judah versus the Big Four
The Pacific Railway Act of 1864
Completing the Transcontinental Railway
The Big Four and the Emerging Rail System
The Southern Pacific Company

15. California's Railway Era: Economic Development and Social Unrest

"The Terrible Seventies"
Urban Growth
San Francisco: From Instant City to Pacific Metropolis
Industrialization
Railroads and the Bonanza Wheat Era
Fruit and Specialty-Crop Farming
Water Resources
The Assault on Nature and the Beginning of Environmental Concern
Social and Political Conflict
Early Labor Movements and the "Indispensable Enemy"
The Workingmen's Party of California
Anti-railroad Politics
The Constitution of 1879
Chinese Exclusion
Culture in the Railroad Era

Part VI California and the Nation, 1880-1920

16. San Francisco's Blind Boss

17. Beginnings of Modern California

Southern California
Population: "The One Great Desideratum"
The "Boom of the '80s"
The First Oil Boom
Black Gold
The Fight Against Monopoly
Political Change in the 1890s
The Free Harbor Fight and the Funding Bill
Agrarian Revolt
Populism in California
The Urban Scene: Prelude to Progressivism
Preprogressive Women

18. Progressive California

Abraham Ruef and the Union Labor Party
Indictment and Trial
The Lincoln-Roosevelt League
Hiram Johnson and the Election of 1910
Economic Regulation
Political Reform
Labor in Progressive California
Fears of Radicalism
The Criminal Syndicalism Act, 1919
Race in Progressive California
Water for the Cities: Hetch Hetchy and Owens Valley
The End of an Era
Turn-of-the-Century California Culture

Part VII California Between the Wars, 1920-1940

19. Super Sister: Aimee Semple McPherson in Los Angeles

20. Prosperity and the Rise of Southern California

Water and Power for Growth
California and the Automobile
Oil
Gas and Hydroelectric Power
The Movies
Agribusiness
Farm Labor
Other Industries
The Decline of Organized Labor
Urban Rivalry and the Military
A Changing Society
The New Freedom of Women
The Role of Religion
Prohibition
Ethnic Minorities in the 1920s
One-Party Government

21. The Depression Decade

The Impact of the Depression
The Problem of Relief
Large-Scale Public Works
The Central Valley Project
Depression Politics
The Sinclair Episode
Merriam's "Pragmatic Conservatism"
Utopian Schemes and the Pension Movement
Olson's "New Deal for California"
The Revival of Labor
The Open Shop in Los Angeles
Agricultural Labor
The "Okies"
The Cultural Scene Between the Wars

Part VIII World War II and Postwar Expansion

22. A Question of Loyalty

23. World War II: The Beginning of a New Era

War in Europ
The Impact of Pearl Harbor
The Rise of the Aircraft Industry
Shipbuilding
Other War Industries and Agriculture
Science
Women in the War
Removal of the Japanese Americans
Consequences of the Evacuation
Other Minorities and the War
Community Problems
Preparing for Peace
The Warren Administrations

24. Amazing Growth: California After World War II

The Great Migration
The Housing Boom
Transportation
Education
Recreation
Postwar Economic Growth
The Defense and Aerospace Industries
The New Hollywood
Postwar Politics and the Anticommunist Crusade
Goodwin Knight Moves Left
California Culture in Transition

Part IX The 1960s and After

25. Prologues to Violence: Genesis of a Ghetto

26. Dreams Defferred: The 1960s

The Election of 1958
The First Governor Brown
The California Water Plan
Civil Rights and Minorities
Reforms in Politics and Government
Schools and Society
Election of 1962
The Politics of Confrontation
Hispanic Californians in the 1960s
Students in Revolt
The 1960s: An Assessment

27. Ears of Limits: Ronald Reagan, Jerry Brown, and After

The Rise of Ronald Reagon
Reagan in Power: the First Term
The Election of 1970
The Second Reagan Administration
The Second Governor Brown
The Election of 1974
New Blood and Farm Labor
"Small Is Beautiful"
The Era of Possibilities and the Election of 1978
The Tax Revolt of 1978
Energy Crisis and Response
After Thirteen
Cultural Maturity and Diversity

Part X Environment and Society: Crisis in the Most Populous State

28. The Delta and the Peripheral Canal: California's Environmental Crisis in Microcosm

29. California: Eden or Wasteland

The "Not So Golden State"
Twentieth-Century Conservation
From Conservation to Environmentalism: The 1960s
Building a Regulatory Framework: Clean Air
Water Pollution Control
Environmental-Impact Reports
"Save the Bay"
The Limits of Regional Planning: The Coast and Lake Tahoe
Parks and Wilderness Areas
Farmland Preservation and "Slow Growth"
Mono Lake and the Uncertain Future of California Water Law
Drought and Water-Policy Stalemate
Reaction Against Environmentalism
The Legacy of Environmental Reform

30. Challenges of Change

Another Boom of the Eighties
Transportation
Recession and the End of the Cold War
Social Transformation
California's African American Community
California's Native Americans
The New Asian Immigration
Hispanic Californians
The Status of Women
Gays and Lesbians
Educational Reform
Politics of the 1990s
A Challenging Future