Great California Stories

Great California Stories
Author: Arthur Grove Day
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 284
Release: 1991-01-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780803265837

In 1510 a Spanish romancer described an island called California, "very close to the side of the Terrestrial Paradise." It was inhabited by Amazons, and even the harnesses of the beasts they rode were gold. Thus began the rich literature of California. In a place that boasts so many claims to one's attention, short fiction has flourished. Great California Stories trumpets the immense short story tradition developed by visitors like Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce but mostly by natives like Jack London and John Steinbeck. The twenty-one stories in this anthology go back to the oral tradition of the American Indians and recall the Hispanic settlement, the gold rush of the 1850s, the agricultural epoch, the growth of cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles, the foibles of early Hollywood, and the rise of ghettos. The ethnic diversity of California is reflected in a cast of story characters including Indians, mission fathers, Asians, Mexican Americans, African Americans, and forty-niners and landseekers from the eastern states. California's varied scenery is drawn on in stories with a strong sense of place, whether Steinbeck's Salinas Valley or Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles. Besides Steinbeck and Chandler, authors represented are Theodora Kroeber, Bret Harte, Gertrude Atherton, Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, Edwin Cone, Jack London, Idwal Jones, Walter Van Tilburg Clark, Dashiel Hammett, Eugene Burdick, Janet Lewis, Wallace Stegner, and Danny Santiago. For them California is a memorable background, sometimes a fabulous character, always a distinctive quality.

Our California

Our California
Author: Pam Mu¤oz Ryan
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Total Pages: 43
Release: 2008-02-01
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1607340488

Takes the reader on an imaginary trip through California while offering information about the history and geography of the major cities and towns.

Love Stories of Old California

Love Stories of Old California
Author: Mrs. Fremont Older
Publisher:
Total Pages: 366
Release: 1940
Genre: California
ISBN:

Typescript of a book published by Coward-McCann (New York, 1940).

Surviving Through the Days

Surviving Through the Days
Author: Herbert W. Luthin
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 660
Release: 2002-06-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780520222700

"This unique and original book sets the standard for such volumes. I can't see anyone coming along for quite some time who would be able to supersede it or top it for quality and inclusiveness."—Brian Swann, editor of Coming to Light "It is a masterful treatment of oral literature…a wonderful combination of great verbal art and sound scholarship, carefully crafted so that the collection begins and ends with a powerful creation tale."—Leanne Hinton, author of Flutes of Fire "Since each of the contributing specialists has first-hand familiarity with the material, the translations are of unusual authenticity and the annotations are of unusual insightfulness. Luthin's own introductory sections are especially vivid and well-informed."—William Bright, author of A Coyote Reader

Foucault in California: [a True Story--Wherein the Great French Philosopher Drops Acid in the Valley of Death]

Foucault in California: [a True Story--Wherein the Great French Philosopher Drops Acid in the Valley of Death]
Author: Simeon Wade
Publisher: Heyday Books
Total Pages: 152
Release: 2021-06
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781597145374

In The Lives of Michel Foucault, David Macey quotes the iconic French philosopher as speaking "nostalgically...of 'an unforgettable evening on LSD, in carefully prepared doses, in the desert night, with delicious music, [and] nice people'". This came to pass in 1975, when Foucault spent Memorial Day weekend in Southern California at the invitation of Simeon Wade-ostensibly to guest-lecture at the Claremont Graduate School where Wade was an assistant professor, but in truth to explore what he called the Valley of Death. Led by Wade and Wade's partner Michael Stoneman, Foucault experimented with psychotropic drugs for the first time; by morning he was crying and proclaiming that he knew Truth. Foucault in California is Wade's firsthand account of that long weekend. Felicitous and often humorous prose vaults readers headlong into the erudite and subversive circles of the Claremont intelligentsia: parties in Wade's bungalow, intensive dialogues between Foucault and his disciples at a Taoist utopia in the Angeles Forest (whose denizens call Foucault "Country Joe"); and, of course, the fabled synesthetic acid trip in Death Valley, set to the strains of Bach and Stockhausen. Part search for higher consciousness, part bacchanal, this book chronicles a young man's burgeoning friendship with one of the twentieth century's greatest thinkers.

Traditional Stories of the California Nations

Traditional Stories of the California Nations
Author: Samantha Bell
Publisher: Core Library
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018
Genre: Indian mythology
ISBN: 9781532111716

The California region covers the coastal and inland areas of what is now the state of California. This book features stories from several of the region's Native Nations, including the Maidu, Chumash, and Hupa.

Ghost Stories of California

Ghost Stories of California
Author: Barbara Smith
Publisher: Lone Pine Pub
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2000
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781551052373

California's rich and colorful history has produced a wealth of tales about the supernatural. These unique tales of scary folklore come from all over the state and include such legends as the ghostly sailors that roam the decks of the Queen Mary at Long Beach to the malevolent phantoms that still haunt Alcatraz.

The California Story

The California Story
Author: California. Governor's Advisory Committee on Children and Youth
Publisher:
Total Pages: 128
Release: 1960
Genre: California
ISBN: