A good measure of a history book, I am beginning to feel, is how much does it upset genealogists. Those who want to paint their ancestors as noble pioneers undoubtably dislike the revelations contained in The Other Californians. This is a book which I feel every Californian should read because it lays down the facts about how Native Americans, African Americans, Chinese, Japanese, and Mexicans were treated by our 19th century forebears. American historians, who are often short-winded on California's racist legacy, could suffer reading it, too.