The Other California: The Great Central Valley In Life And Letters (Western Literature and Fiction Series)

This enlarged edition of The other California, originally published in 1990, contains nineteen essays (six of them new to this collection) on the landscape, literature, and life in the Great Central Valley of California. A vast, flat patchwork of fields and orchards about the size of England, the Valley has become the richest farming region in the history of the world. It also has a rich literary tradition: William Saroyan, Joan Didion, William Everson, Maxine Hong Kingston, Gary Soto, and Richard Rodriguez were all raised in this agricultural heartland. This expanded edition of The Other California, originally published in 1990, contains nineteen essays (six of them new to this collection) on the landscape, literature, and life in the Great Central Valley of California. The Valley, a vast, flat patchwork of fields and orchards, has become the richest farming region in the history of the world. It also has a rich literary tradition: William Saroyan, Joan Didion, William Everson, Maxine Hong Kingston, Gary Soto, and Richard Rodriguez were all raised in this agricultural heartland. Haslam's collection represents the experience of living in the Valley through a variety of writings; some are personal, some regional, others literary. Many of these essays were originally published in national magazines; as a group, they offer readers a fine collection of writings on the landscape and literature of California's Great Central Valley Oildale native, Gerald Haslam, doesn't like it when folks dismiss the Central Valley as boring and flat. In this collection of essays, he argues that it is California's heartland and economic hub. In addition, the valley has produced a crop of gifted writers. These nineteen essays range from reminiscences of childhood and adolescence to a portrait of Mexican-Americans and their position in the Valley's society to a moving essay about having the author's aging father come to live with the family. Even if you have never lived in the Valley, reading this book will give you an entirely new perspective the next time you drive into it. An expanded edition of a work originally published in 1990 by Capra Press. It contains 19 essays (six of them new to this collection) on the landscape, literature, and life in the agricultural heartland that is the Central Valley of California. Some of the writings are personal, some regional, others literary; many were originally published in national magazines. No index. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.