Synopses & Reviews
Philip L. Fradkin, one of Californiaand#8217;s most acclaimed environmental historians, felt drawn to the coast as soon as he arrived in California in 1960. His first book, California: The Golden Coast, captured the wonder of the shorelineand#8217;s natural beauty along with the controversies it engendered. In The Left Coast, the author and his photographer son Alex Fradkin revisit some of the same places they explored together in the early 1970s. From their written and visual approaches, this father-son team brings a unique generational perspective to the subject. Mixing history, geography, interviews, personal experiences, and photographs, they find a wealth of stories and memorable sights in the multiplicity of landscapes, defined by them as the Wild, Agricultural, Residential, Tourist, Recreational, Industrial, Military, and Political coasts. Alex Fradkinand#8217;s expressive photographs add a layer of meaning, enriching the subject with their distinctive eloquence while bringing a visual dimension to his fatherand#8217;s words. In this way, the book becomes the story of a close relationship within a probing study of a varied and contested coastline.
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and#8220;Intertwines history, geology, memories, and anecdotes in flowing, poetic text that meanders through time.and#8221;
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"The author wields a pen, memories of the past, and keen interviewing skills, while the artist presents breathtaking color photographs that capture the coast's magic. . . . Visitors to the Golden State could easily skip conventional guidebooks and keep The Left Coast handy for a thorough and engaging tour."
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and#8220;The contrast between the ocean's nothingness and civilization's muchness is captured by the photographs of Alex L. Fradkinand#8221;
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and#8220;An endearing but honest look at California's coast . . . . and#8216;The Left Coastand#8217; is well-illustrated, thoughtful, and detailed enough to serve as a guidebook.and#8221;
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and#8220;Alex Fradkin's photographs are at times surreal and at times gritty. . . .while Philip Fradkin's narrative weaves in and out, breaking down the coast into manageable chunks.and#8221;
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and#8220;Fascinating, unpredictable and affecting. Alex Fradkinand#8217;s photographs also defy expectations, rendering familiar places and situations from novel and challenging perspectives.and#8221;
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and#8220;This handsome book includes dozens of color plates of Californiaand#8217;s famous beaches. . . . [The] photographs are technically superb, lyrical, and often haunting.and#8221;
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and#8220;It is, at once, a memoir, a work of investigative journalism, and a portfolio of fine art, all of which is sharply focused on the California shoreline.and#8221;
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and#8220;A good introduction. Hopefully this body of work will go on tour to major venues on the coast.and#8221;
Synopsis
and#147;Itand#8217;s not often that stunning photographs and powerful writing come together with equal force, but that is exactly what happens with The Left Coast. The team of Fradkin and Fradkin has created a book that shares their distinct visions of the California coast. Their collaboration forms a compelling journey equally strong in words and images.and#8221; -Mark Klett, School of Art, Arizona State University
and#147;Early last century, writer-photographer J. Smeaton Chase and literary landscapist Mary Austin made pilgrimages along the pristine shores of California. A father-son team now makes the same journey with notebook and camera to document what a century of development has wrought. The result is a fascinating and unique portrayal of the California coast.and#8221;- Kevin Starr, University of Southern California
and#147;These photos are beautiful, surprising and thoughtful. By visualizing the coast as a whole, this book helps us think bioregionally, and such large-scale thinking will, hopefully contribute to the coastand#8217;s preservation.and#8221; -Robert Dawson, co-author of The Great Central Valley: Californiaand#8217;s Heartland
About the Author
Philip L. Fradkin is the author of eleven books, including A River No More, The Seven States of California, Magnitude 8, Wildest Alaska, The Great Earthquake and Firestorms of 1906, and Wallace Stegner and the American West, all available from UC Press. Alex Fradkin is a fine art photographer whose work has been widely exhibited and is held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Photography, and the Portland Art Museum. His work also appears regularly in print and online publications around the world.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Coastal Memories
The Wild Coast
The Agricultural Coast
The Residential Coast
The Tourist Coast
The Recreational Coast
The Industrial Coast
The Military Coast
The Political Coast
Photographerand#8217;s Afterword
Acknowledgments
Notes
Suggested Reading
Index