Book Description
In this vivid account of the birth of modern California, J. S. Holliday frames the gold rush years within the larger story of the state’s transformation from the quietude of a Mexican hinterland in the 1840s to the forefront of entrepreneurial capitalism by the 1890s. No other state, no nation experienced such an adolescence of freedom and success. By 1883 California was hailed as “America, only more so.”

Holliday’s boldly interpretive narrative has the authority and immediacy of an eyewitness account. He follows gold mining’s swift evolution from treasure hunt to vast industry; traces the prodigal plunder of California’s virgin rivers and abundant forests; and describes improvised feats of engineering, breathtaking in their scope and execution.

This beautiful book offers not only a compelling narrative but also almost two hundred fifty illustrations that richly illuminate the themes and details of the text: daguerreotypes, photographs, paintings, lithographs, sketches, and specially drawn maps.

“No one writes better about California's irresistible past. Jim Holliday has the optimistic energy of a greenhorn gold bug, the sober reflection and fatalistic charm of the oldest of prospectors, and the genius of those content to watch the madness unfold from a safe, wise and utterly sane perspective. I am a huge fan.” —Ken Burns, producer of the PBS series “The West”