CALIFORNIA - LAND OF NEW BEGINNINGS by Lavender, David

New York, 1972, Harper & Row, US first edition, hard bound in dust jacket, 6 1/2 x 9 1/2, FINE/FINE CONDITION, 464 pages, maps, bibliog, index.-------------------------------------------------------For twelve decades the state of California has figured prominently in the perpetuation of the Great American Dream. Its fabled allure has attracted millions of dreamers filled with yearning and getrich-quick hopes, ingenuity and recklessness, amazing strength and endurance. Today, twenty million people call themselves Californians—ten percent of the total population of the United States. Since the earliest Spanish explorations in the late 1500's through the present, California's exploitative history and growth have been both tumultuous and phenomenal.David Lavender's approach to this history is as insightful as it is informative. All the facts are here: the missions and the Indians, the struggles between the Mexicans and the Americans, the fabulous gold rushes, statehood in 1850, railroad wars, furious labor upheavals, the disastrous scandals and bankruptcies of the 1920's, on through recent gigantic tamperings with nature to the overcrowding and diffusion of today.----------------------------------------------------------------What makes this particular biography of a state unique is Mr. Lavender's emphasis on the important trends and themes that have recurred in the history of California, such as the continual quest for triumph on the part of all those who migrated to this land of infinite beauty in the hope of success and security. Many contend that one can trace the progress of all America, and even foresee its future, by studying the history of its most populous and quintessential state. David Lavender leads the reader along that path to the last stop before the Pacific.