Rooted in Barbarous Soil
People, Culture, and Community in Gold Rush California
1st Edition
Published on 4. October 2000
Book
Hardback
374 pages
978-0-520-22497-1 (ISBN)
Description
Perhaps never in the time-honored American tradition of frontiering did "civilization" appear to sink so low as in gold rush California. A mercurial economy swung from boom to bust, and back again, rendering everyone's fortunes ephemeral. Competition, jealousy, and racism fueled individual and mass violence. Yet, in the very midst of this turbulence, social and cultural forms emerged, gained strength, spread, and took hold. Rooted in Barbarous Soil,Volume 3 in the four-volume California History Sesquicentennial Series, is the only book of its kind to examine gold rush society and culture, to present modern interpretations, and to gather up-to-date bibliographies of its topics.
Chapters by leading scholars in their respective fields explore a range of topics including migration and settlement; ethnic diversity, assimilation, cooperation, and conflict; the dispossession of Indians and the Californios; the founding of schools and universities; urban life; women in early California; the sexual frontier; and the development of religion, art, literature, and popular culture. Many rarely seen illustrations supplement the text.
Chapters by leading scholars in their respective fields explore a range of topics including migration and settlement; ethnic diversity, assimilation, cooperation, and conflict; the dispossession of Indians and the Californios; the founding of schools and universities; urban life; women in early California; the sexual frontier; and the development of religion, art, literature, and popular culture. Many rarely seen illustrations supplement the text.
More details
Series
Edition
First Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Berkerley
United States
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
16 color illustrations, 39 b-w photographs, 5 tables, 37 b-w illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 178 mm
Thickness: 32 mm
Weight
953 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-520-22497-1 (9780520224971)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Kevin Starr is California State Librarian and University Professor at the University of Southern California. He is the author of the acclaimed multi-volume series Americans and the California Dream (1973-1998). Richard J. Orsi is Professor of History at California State University, Hayward, and editor of California History. He is the coeditor of Contested Eden: California before the Gold Rush (California, 1998) and A Golden State: Mining and Economic Development in Gold Rush California (California, 1999).
Content
PREFACE * Michael Duty and Richard]. Orsi
1. Rooted in Barbarous Soil? An Introduction to Gold Rush Society and Culture ?
Kevin Starr ?
2. No Boy's Play: Migration and Settlement in Early Gold Rush California ?
Malcolm Rohrbough ?
3. A People of Exceptional Character: Ethnic Diversity, Nativism, and Racism in the
California Gold Rush ? Sucheng Chan ?
4. "Because he is a liar and a thief": Conquering the Residents of"Old" California,
1850-1880 ? James A. Sandos ?
5. "All hands have gone downtown':? Urban Places in Gold Rush California ?
Robert Phelps ?
6. Weaving a Different World: Women and the California Gold Rush
Nancy J. Taniguchi ?
7. "As jolly as a clam at high water": The Rise of Art in Gold Rush California ?
Anthony Kirk ?
8. Romancing the Gold Rush: The Literature of the California Frontier
? Michael Kowalewski ?
9. From Indijforence to Imperative Duty: Educating Children in Early California ?
Irving G. Hendrick ?
10. Phelan's Cemetery: Religion in the Urbanizing West, 1850-1869, in Los Angeles,
San Francisco, and Sacramento ?
Steven M. Avella ?
11. Popular Culture on the Golden Shore ? Gary F. Kurutz ?
12. "My own private life": Toward a History of Desire in Gold Rush California ?
Susan Lee Johnson ?
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
INDEX
1. Rooted in Barbarous Soil? An Introduction to Gold Rush Society and Culture ?
Kevin Starr ?
2. No Boy's Play: Migration and Settlement in Early Gold Rush California ?
Malcolm Rohrbough ?
3. A People of Exceptional Character: Ethnic Diversity, Nativism, and Racism in the
California Gold Rush ? Sucheng Chan ?
4. "Because he is a liar and a thief": Conquering the Residents of"Old" California,
1850-1880 ? James A. Sandos ?
5. "All hands have gone downtown':? Urban Places in Gold Rush California ?
Robert Phelps ?
6. Weaving a Different World: Women and the California Gold Rush
Nancy J. Taniguchi ?
7. "As jolly as a clam at high water": The Rise of Art in Gold Rush California ?
Anthony Kirk ?
8. Romancing the Gold Rush: The Literature of the California Frontier
? Michael Kowalewski ?
9. From Indijforence to Imperative Duty: Educating Children in Early California ?
Irving G. Hendrick ?
10. Phelan's Cemetery: Religion in the Urbanizing West, 1850-1869, in Los Angeles,
San Francisco, and Sacramento ?
Steven M. Avella ?
11. Popular Culture on the Golden Shore ? Gary F. Kurutz ?
12. "My own private life": Toward a History of Desire in Gold Rush California ?
Susan Lee Johnson ?
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
INDEX