"Shunning boosterism, this history of Stockton California seeks to present a critical and candid account of a tent city during the Gold Rush that grew into a metropolis larger than either Pittsburgh or Cincinnati. It begins with the Yokut and Miwok tribes of the San Joaquin and moves forward to the present day, highlighting along the way the city's "golden age" during the Roaring Twenties and its unique, even crucial, roles during the Civil War, the Great War, and the Second World War. It does not ignore movers and shakers liek city manager Walter Byron Hogan, local industrialists such as Tillie Lewis, and real estate developers such as the billionaire Alex Spanos. However, it also tells the stories of ordinary citizens who did extraordinary things -- a transvestite woman who worked for a local newspaper during the Gilded Age and stowed away on a troop ship to the Philippines in 1898, a high school teacher who refused to abandon her Japanese students when they were imprisoned in 1942 at the county fairgrounds and was later honored by the Emperor of Japan, a brilliant Jewish humanities professor who inspired som many of his students, including jazz composer Dave Brubeck. Seeking to be inclusive, this history takes pains to acknowledge the contributions of Native Americans, Chinese, and Italian immigrants, Filipino/as, Japanese Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Sikhs, gays and lesbians, and women. Everyone is given a voice." -- cover, p.[4].