This book is an excellent resource for any teacher who is doing a unit on the American Revolution. The book includes activities that are suitable for ages 8-13 and factual narrative stories that are directed at this audience. It even includes a skit about the Boston Massacre that students love to do! Whether you are writing lesson plans or looking for a resource for you classroom library or media center, this book is a must-have!

I first heard of Dr. History when I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. During my morning commute, I often listened to KNBR's morning show, hosted by Frank Dill and Mike Cleary. A frequent feature was a brief talk about some little-known anecdote from California's past. This was presented by Jim Rawls, who was dubbed "Dr. History" by Frank & Mike. The stories were always short, but interesting.
Jim Rawls has placed that format into book form, very successfully.
The stories are still short -- good for a quick bedtime story to a child or for that brief reading time in the quietest room in your house.
Following each story, Rawls has a section called "Something More", where he encourages you to go somewhere to experience history for yourself. (Most of the locations are in the Bay Area.)
I highly recommend this book, especially for parents who are hoping to get their kids interested in history.

In line with much of the new non-fiction surveys and studies, the book, in short essays gives the picture on much information that I have not seen before on the Gold Rush and the aftermath. In particular it gives a reader a chance to compare the Internet investment frenzy with the Gold Mine stocks frenzy in the 1860s & 70s.

The information is concise and beautifully and fascinatingly written.

....and one I'm surprised hasn't been reviewed here before.

If you want to understand the shifting perspectives of Spanish conquerers, European settlers, and American heirs of colonized California toward its Native inhabitants, then start with this readable outline, which traces these shifts over time with numerous quotations and documentary examples of how the whites perceived their "root-digger" neighbors.

What makes this book particularly convincing is that it refuses either to demonize all white efforts on behalf of Native rights or to idealize them as so many of the early missionaries did, righteously convinced they were helping and uplifting the very people who were dying in the thousands of violence, culture shock, and European diseases against which they had no defense.

This book belongs on every shelf dedicated to the history of California.

I happened upon this book by pure coincidence but have since come to rely upon it as an essential reference source on the history of federal and state policy towards dealing with tribes, tribal governments and tribal members. A really well written and interesting read, not too academic or technical, and does justice to the experience of Native Americans while maintaining a remarkable objectivity uncommon to most histories on this topic. Very useful to put contemporary Indian policy issues into a larger historical context, in my case, in representing state government interactions with Arizona tribes. A good read for interested non-government amateurs as well.

Jim Rawls's book is a wonderful resource for children to study the reality of the typical mining town from heyday to ghost town. It includes a general description of the hardships endured by the miners as well as several examples of the effects of prejudice (and too much whiskey!) on the many "foreign" miners. I would have liked to see a few more direct quotes from the Dame Shirley letters, but the information is given using age-appropriate language and length. Definitely worth the time to read.

It is true that UC Berkeley is a top ranked school for History. Sadly, this UC Professor misses the mark. This interpretive history does do many aspects of California History justice, but it completely neglects or distorts certain other facts in Early Californian History. The men who wrote it would do well to get a hold of some primary source martial of the earlier times they write about (journals of pioneers and settlers, for example.) But they probably won't, not even for future editions... If they did so, they might find out how wrong they are on a few of their topics and views held by some 19th century Californians immigrants. Also, it seems that they fail to emphasize the dubious nature of some of the late land grants & claims on the verge of the American take over from Mexico. Perhaps I am too harsh and they will consider the impact of the "Mormon Battalion" or the impact of the ship "Brooklyn". Or Inland Empire farming by Sikhs.

In an effort to paint an "inclusive" history (where only the Anglo is the bad guy,) the authors focus on discriminatory practices by whites against Chinese immigrants; yet neglect to take a hard look at graft and oppression Chinese immigrants faced at the hands of other Chinese. While the whites were certainly discriminatory, the Chinese immigrant was harmed and taken advantage of other Chinese immigrants as well. But it's less glamorous to take on those issues and much more self-righteous to point a finger by playing a race card. (If one human harms another, I guess it only matters if they are of different ethnicities...)

The authors also point to the racist-supremacist view of the Anglo-Saxon Republic but fail to point out that the same was true of the Mexican-Catholic government. When Mexico held California, non-Catholics could not own property (which is why the Scotsman, Gilroy converted.) Furthermore, the decline of Native American inhabitants of California under the Spanish & Mexican regimes could be more strongly articulated... but that's not popular to talk about. Lastly, while I am pleased that they did an adequate job of covering the earlier discrimination against Japanese immigrants, the Japanese internment, and Korematsu v. US, they completely neglect the Sikhs, and a landmark case of U.S. v. Bhagat Sign Thind. Obviously, this book is written for the current vogue in History etiquette. Rather than trying for circumspection and providing a durable history based on objectivity, they settle for current interpretation... which leads makes one feel history is not compelling or relevant if it simply changes with the modern political mood.

Last semester I took history of california, and I had to use this book. Overall it was a desent book, eccept I like shee photos of the historic sites, and this book gave very few.

I felt compelled to write a quick review of this book in response to the harsh ratings it has been given. Any history is going to miss out some things that some people find extremely important. At least this book acknowledges as much - even in the title!

I found this book a surprisingly easy read. I work in the cultural resource industry, writing reports etc., and I have found it extremely useful as a general text on California history. I have also seen it widely used in reports authored by other professionals.

I have yet to come across a better book for a comprehensive introduction to California history.

"California Dreaming" is an interesting, but definitely not astounding, collection of "historical" tidbits for the reader who is longing for information, no matter how trivial, about the Golden State. The stories are "written sound bites" (each about two pages long) and occasionally cause the reader to think, "I didn't know that," but they definitely do not constitute serious history. Topics covered range from the introduction of the yo yo, and prunes to America, to a recounting of the loss of the dirigible, "Macon," to a brief peek into the Huston family of Hollywood noteriety. The 50 or so stories (100 pages) are interestingly presented and coherently written, but they are not so remarkable as to justify the price of the book. The author is very good at what he does--presenting stories of the past in very palatable portions--but the reader looking for serious insights into the history of California will find these h'ors d'oeuvres unsatisfying. I'm sure the author did not intend to mislead the potential reader as to the quality of the historical record contained in this book, but when this reviewer notes the author goes by the name, Dr. History, he expects a bit more than he got