Love it or hate it, California has proven incredibly important and influential, both in its own right and as part of the United States of America. Michael Hiltzik has done well at attempting to tell the overall story of how California has come to be in Golden State: The Making of California.

The author set the scene well: an overview of all the Indigenous Californians present throughout the land; the first expeditions and incursions of the Spanish and later Russians; the establishment of the missions; as part of Mexico; the emigration of Americans and the inevitable takeover by the Americans. The author well described the gold rush, the genocide of the Indigenous, the immoral treatment of non-white populations and the attempts at enshrining white supremacy in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and the development of the railroads and the choke hold the railroad barons maintained on power. He well addressed the reaction to these and the establishment of direct democracy by proposition.

Shorter shrift is given to everything which has led to modern California, but for understandable reasons, since each section could become its own book: environmentalism, San Francisco, and Hetch Hetchy; the 1906 earthquake; Southern California boosterism, the Aqueduct, the development and growth of Hollywood and the aerospace industry, racial unrest embodied in the Watts uprising, California conservativedom with Nixon and Reagan, and California coming to grips with limits in terms of its water resources, wildfires, taxation programs, housing, and the like as the means by which to explain the politics and developments within the state over the past 50 years.

This is a well written introduction to how California has come to be and its social and political developments. As goes California, so goes the nation? So it has been; so it might continue to be.

I grew up in California until high school, so I know lot of California history (more than Texas history). Field trips growing up included, gold mines, panning for gold, missions, and Presidios. I knew I had a decent understanding of the state’s history. Golden State filled in so many holes and expanded on the basics I had. Mind blowing amount.

Golden State was informative, but an easy ready as well. The book starts for the quest of El Dorado and covers everything to current state history and politics (though interesting to find out a lot of policies were made just after the 1906 earthquake and still on the books.

Thank you NetGalley and Mariner Books for the advanced reader copy. #GoldenState #NetGalley

A sweeping look at how California as it's known today came into existence. It can't cover everything, but it covers enough to provide a solid foundation for those interested in American history.

This was a great book about the state of California, I learned a lot through this book and how everything worked in the nonfiction element. The research was there and enjoyed the overall feel of this. Michael Hiltzik wrote this well and enjoyed going on this historical journey.