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The King of California: J.G. Boswell and the Making of A Secret American Empire
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The King of California: J.G. Boswell and the Making of A Secret American Empire Paperback - 2005

by Mark Arax; Rick Wartzman

This rich, colorful history of California centers on the untold story of America's biggest farmer, J.G. Boswell, who controls more than $1 billion worth of water rights and real estate in the heart of the state. Photos throughout.


From the publisher

The fascinating story of a cotton magnate whose voracious appetite for land drove him to create the first big agricultural empire of the Central Valley of California, and shaped the landscape for decades to come. J.G. Boswell was the biggest farmer in America. He built a secret empire while thumbing his nose at nature, politicians, labor unions and every journalist who ever tried to lift the veil on the ultimate "factory in the fields." The King of California is the previously untold account of how a Georgia slave-owning family migrated to California in the early 1920s, drained one of America 's biggest lakes in an act of incredible hubris and carved out the richest cotton empire in the world. Indeed, the sophistication of Boswell 's agricultural operation -from lab to field to gin -- is unrivaled anywhere. Much more than a business story, this is a sweeping social history that details the saga of cotton growers who were chased from the South by the boll weevil and brought their black farmhands to California. It is a gripping read with cameos by a cast of famous characters, from Cecil B. DeMille to Cesar Chavez.

First line

"WE HAD BEEN CHASING JIM BOSWELL for the better part of two years, trying to find the right words that might persuade him to talk."

Details

  • Title The King of California: J.G. Boswell and the Making of A Secret American Empire
  • Author Mark Arax; Rick Wartzman
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Revised
  • Pages 592
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher PublicAffairs, New York, New York, U.S.A.
  • Date 2005-02-16
  • Illustrated Yes
  • ISBN 9781586482817 / 1586482815
  • Weight 1.26 lbs (0.57 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.25 x 5.48 x 1.57 in (20.96 x 13.92 x 3.99 cm)
  • Ages 16 to 11 years
  • Grade levels 11 - 6
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 20th Century
    • Cultural Region: Western U.S.
    • Cultural Region: West Coast
    • Geographic Orientation: California
  • Dewey Decimal Code B

Media reviews

Citations

  • Ingram Advance, 02/01/2005, Page 33

About the author

Mark Arax is a bestselling author and journalist whose writings on California and the West have received numerous awards for literary nonfiction. A former staffer at the Los Angeles Times, his work has appeared in the New York Times and the California Sunday Magazine. His books include The Dreamt Land, In My Father's Name, West of the West, and the bestselling The King of California, which won a California Book Award, the William Saroyan Prize from Stanford University and was named a top book of 2004 by the L.A. Times. He lives in Fresno.
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