Synopses & Reviews
Brown was the dominant hue of California, a largely treeless landscape in the 1850s. American settlers quickly began to “improve” the scene, planting millions of trees to create groves, wooded suburbs, and landscaped cities. A century later eucalypts defined the look of lowland California; profitable citrus colonies dominated the Southland; and graceful palms spoke of Los Angeles style. Meanwhile, the old-growth redwood forests of the North Coast became infrastructure, transformed by the saw teeth of American enterprise.
This new landscape was no paradise: eucalypts exploded in fire; orange groves froze on cold nights; palms harbored rats and dropped heavy fronds on streets below. Disease, infestation, and sprawl all spelled decline for these nonnative evergreens. In the north, however, a new forest of second-growth redwood took root, nurtured by public and private action. In this dazzling account, history and nature combine to yield a rich new perspective on the Golden State.
Review
"A sweeping and brilliantly observed history of the promise and pitfalls of the California Dream, as seen through the intertwined lives of trees and people." Sir Peter Crane, author of Ginkgo
Review
"A breathtaking, dramatic, and insightful history of California as seen through the rise and fall of the state's most iconic trees. Beautifully written, every page is a revelation, bringing to vivid life the myriad ways in which California's landscape was transformed by human greed and desire, often with disastrous results. You will never think about a tree or the California Dream in the same way." Eric Jay Dolin, author of When America First Met China
Review
"A small group of savvy historians and ecologists--from William Cronon to Daniel Botkin and others--have in recent decades been alerting us to a neglected reality: that much of 'nature' as we perceive it is human-arranged. Jared Farmer is an important voice within this corps. Peering at California as landscape and dreamscape, he sees the forest for the trees." David Quammen, author of Spillover
Review
"This brilliant new work of California history is a magnificent achievement--imaginative, learned, and very important." William Deverell, director, Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West
Review
"The book offers a thorough look at the natural aspects of this massive, diverse state, and while extremely detailed, Farmer's engaging prose holds readers attention." Publishers Weekly
Review
"The wealth of research makes this an important addition to the California bookshelf. Farmer shows us how devoted, destructive, foolhardy, ambitious, greedy, enriched and showy Californians can be--not just in relation to our trees but also in general." Los Angeles Times
Review
"Knowledgeable, wise and compelling,...this illuminating, panoramic history...uncovers the subtle and surprising webs connecting the social, cultural and natural worlds of California, and the planet." Kirkus Reviews, Starred review
Review
"If you've ever eaten a California orange, seen a palm on a postcard, or marveled at a redwood, this book is for--and about--you. Farmer's work is detailed and nuanced. e weaves environment and culture into a single narrative." Boom: A Journal of California
Review
" is a compelling work, from its description of the ghastly treatment of sequoias, 'simultaneously degraded and sacralized,' to its evocation of the sweet-scented splendor of orange groves blooming in the dusk of a Pasadena suburb." OnEarth Magazine
Review
"At once an accessible read and a prodigious work of scholarship, will serve as the authoritative work on its subject for decades to come." KCET
Synopsis
Readers of John McPhee will enjoy this brilliant landscape history of California from the Gold Rush to the present.
Synopsis
From roots to canopy, a lush, verdant history of the making of California.
Synopsis
California now has more trees than at any time since the late Pleistocene. This green landscape, however, is not the work of nature. It's the work of history. In the years after the Gold Rush, American settlers remade the California landscape, harnessing nature to their vision of the good life. Horticulturists, boosters, and civic reformers began to "improve" the bare, brown countryside, planting millions of trees to create groves, wooded suburbs, and landscaped cities. They imported the blue-green eucalypts whose tangy fragrance was thought to cure malaria. They built the lucrative "Orange Empire" on the sweet juice and thick skin of the Washington navel, an industrial fruit. They lined their streets with graceful palms to announce that they were not in the Midwest anymore.
About the Author
Jared Farmer, a Utah native and former Californian, is the author of On Zion's Mount, a landscape history awarded the prestigious Parkman Prize for literary excellence. He teaches history at Stony Brook University and lives in Brooklyn, New York.