After the Gold Rush

Reviews / Votes

Tells a powerful story that merits greater attention. -- Abraham Hoffman Journal of the West 2007 In this work on California's agricultural history, Vaught also provides a social history of the development of the Putah Creek region in the wake of the California gold rush... Libraries with collections forcusing on California, the Pacific slope, the western US, and agricultural history will want this book. Choice 2008 An excellent history of farming in the Sacramento Valley in the late nineteenth century. -- Ralph Mann California History 2007 Vaught tells a riveting story of two generations of farmers who 'committed themselves not only to the market but to community life as well.' He argues that these twin commitments, born of their failures in the gold fields, were an essential part of the culture of American capitalism that emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century. -- Ryan J. Carey Business History Review 2007 A rich account of a rural world that has been overlooked by historians, and it is an important addition to recent work on rural life that has, to date, focused exclusively on the Midwest... very accessible to general and specialist readers alike. -- Jeff Bremer Southern California Quarterly 2008 Useful for those seeking to understand the relationship between California's gold rush and its agricultural communities. -- Eric Steiger Western Historical Quarterly 2008 Vaught set himself the goal of writing a 'new' rural history of California, examining the state's wheat farmers in their social and cultural contexts. In After the Gold Rush, he achieves his goal admirably. -- James J. Rawls Journal of American History 2007 An agricultural history that weaves together an unpredictable creek, a fluctuating market, and the perseverance of the American Dream. -- Melody M. Miyamoto Journal of Interdisciplinary History 2008 Ambitious, richly detailed. -- Gerald Ronning Enterprise and Society 2008 A detailed and focused study that advances our understanding of nineteenth-century California rural history. -- Andrew C. Isenberg American Historical Review 2008 In providing such a rich story within a unique context, After the Gold Rush does for Putah Creek what John Mack Faragher did for Sugar Creek and similarly will stand as an insightful and model work for years to come. Labor History 2009 Vaught has written an informative and very readable narrative study. -- Ken Owens Agricultural History 2009