{"title":"Books About California","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"a-peoples-guide-to-orange-county-4-peoples-guide","title":"A People's Guide to Orange County, 4 ( People's Guide )","description":"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\"At first encounter, Orange County can resemble the incoherent sprawl that geographer James Howard Kunstler named The Geography of Nowhere: a car-dependent, seemingly bland space designed most of all for efficient capitalist consumption. But it is somewhere, too, and learning its stories helps it become more than its boosters' slogans. Writers Lisa Alvarez and Andrew Tonkovich, residents of Orange County's remote Modjeska Canyon, describe this whole county as \"a much-constructed and -contrived locale, a pestered and paved landscape built and borne upon stories of human development... of destruction as well as, happily, of enduring wild places.\" In a similar vein, essayist D. J. Waldie, chronicler of the bordering suburb of Lakewood, asserts that \"becoming Californian ... means locating yourself\" in \"habitats of memory\" that connect ordinary, local areas with broader themes. Moving beyond sentimentality, nostalgia, and so many sales pitches that omit far too much, Waldie echoes Michel de Certeau's call to \"awaken the stories that sleep in the streets.\" That is the goal of this book. Inspired by Laura Pulido, Laura Barraclough, and Wendy Cheng's A People's Guide to Los Angeles (University of California Press, 2012), as well as the People's Guides to Boston and San Francisco that have followed it, we offer this guidebook for locals, tourists, students, and everyone who wants to understand where they really are. This book is organized with regional chapters, sorted roughly north to south by community. Within each city, sites are listed alphabetically. After the group of entries for each city, we recommend nearby restaurants as well as other sites of interest for visitors. Readers may explore this book geographically or use the thematic tours in the appendix to consider environmental politics, Cold War legacies, the politics of housing, LGBTQ spaces, or Orange County's carceral state. The appendix also contains suggestions for teachers using this book, engaging students in cognitive mapping, close reading, popular-culture analysis, and creating additional entries of people's history. While many local histories tend to focus on a few white settlers, this book places attention on the people, especially the subaltern ones who are hierarchically under others, including workers, people of color, youth, and LGBTQ individuals. No single book can represent an entire county, so we have chosen to concentrate on the lesser-known power struggles that have happened here and influenced the landscape that we all share. We could not include everyone, of course. We are mindful that other groups are currently creating more people's history on this landscape that we hope our readers will continue to explore. In Orange County, excavating the diverse past can be frowned upon or actively repressed by those invested in selling Orange County in the style of its booster Anglo settlers from 150 years ago. This book tells the diverse political history beyond the bucolic imagery of orange-crate labels. We hope it will inspire readers to further explore Orange County and reflect on even more sites that could be included in the ordinary, extraordinary landscape here\"\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"Ingram","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42473933471975,"sku":"9780520299955","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0449\/4075\/5096\/products\/ScreenShot2022-02-15at4.34.22PM.png?v=1644971825"},{"product_id":"there-there","title":"There There","description":"\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\"Tommy Orange's wondrous and shattering novel follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize. Among them is Jacquie Red Feather, newly sober and trying to make it back to the family she left behind. Dene Oxendene, pulling his life together after his uncle's death and working at the powwow to honor his memory. Fourteen Orvil, coming to perform traditional dance for the very first time. Together, this chorus of voices tells of the plight of the urban Native American-grappling with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and spirituality, with communion and sacrifice and heroism. Hailed as an instant classic, There There is at once poignant and unflinching, utterly contemporary and truly unforgettable.\"\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"Ingram","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49184354435303,"sku":"9780525436140","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0449\/4075\/5096\/files\/Screenshot2024-04-13at11.48.21.png?v=1713034141"},{"product_id":"california-rewritten-a-journey-through-the-golden-states-new-literature","title":"California Rewritten: A Journey Through the Golden State's New Literature","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDive into the revelatory worlds of California's most exciting writers, and discover how their books uncover our history and can help us imagine our shared future.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"In Freeman's hands, California is a literary mecca, and each essay a revelation.\" --\u003cb\u003eIngrid Rojas Contreras\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Man Who Could Move Clouds\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePercival Everett, Rebecca Solnit, Tommy Orange, Michael Connelly, Julie Otsuka: As John Freeman writes in \u003ci\u003eCalifornia Rewritten\u003c\/i\u003e, \"Literature of so many kinds and so many genres from so many different types of people--at the highest level--has been coming out of California and from Californians for decades now.\" Freeman, one of the sharpest editors working today, has followed the evolution of California's literary life since his teenage years in Sacramento. In over fifty essays inspired by his hosting of \u003ci\u003eAlta Journal\u003c\/i\u003e's popular California Book Club, he offers an essential road map to California literature now. He shows us how the state's most exciting writers can unlock our understanding of the past, and how they can deepen our imaginations as we confront the most pressing issues that face our society: labor and inequality, migration and citizenship, technology and its limits, changing landscapes and climate catastrophe. Incisive and compulsively readable, \u003ci\u003eCalifornia Rewritten\u003c\/i\u003e will be a source of empowering discovery for any book lover who cares about the Golden State.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Heyday Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51814756024551,"sku":"9781597146920","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0449\/4075\/5096\/files\/imageloader_18fbcd1a-60d4-4cb8-b50f-ed7ae11412af.jpg?v=1771903959"},{"product_id":"play-it-as-it-lays-second-edition-revised","title":"Play It as It Lays (Second Edition, Revised)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA ruthless dissection of American life in the late 1960s, Joan Didion's \u003ci\u003ePlay It as It Lays\u003c\/i\u003e captures the mood of an entire generation, the ennui of contemporary society reflected in spare prose that blisters and haunts the reader. \u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSet in a place beyond good and evil---literally in Hollywood, Las Vegas, and the barren wastes of the Mojave Desert, but figuratively in the landscape of an arid soul---it remains more than three decades after its original publication a profoundly disturbing novel, riveting in its exploration of a woman and a society in crisis and stunning in the still-startling intensity of its prose.","brand":"Farrar, Straus and Giroux","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52085411414247,"sku":"9780374529949","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0449\/4075\/5096\/files\/imageloader_2f8f354e-b8d6-4f1e-a94d-837003e68bf6.jpg?v=1779310813"},{"product_id":"coastal-130-recipes-from-a-california-road-trip","title":"Coastal: 130 Recipes from a California Road Trip","description":"\u003cb\u003eNamed a\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eBest Cookbook of Spring 2025 by \u003ci\u003eEater\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eEpicurious\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Between lush photos from Cheyenne Ellis, gorgeous descriptions from Andrews and recipes that make the most of local bounty (think perfect Meyer lemonade and Dungeness crab rice), it's a treat for all senses.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe Los Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"With his debut cookbook, Clark, chef and owner of Dad's Luncheonette, wanted to celebrate California's Central Coast. He succeeds on every count.\" --\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eA celebration of California home cooking with 130 recipes and more than 300 photos that capture the beauty, magic, and bounty of the coast. From acclaimed chef Scott Clark, who flipped his fine dining chops into the ultimate railroad-car diner at the edge of the Pacific.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eCoastal\u003c\/i\u003e is a visual feast of free-spirited Californian cooking and living, set against the surf, peaks, curving roads, and sunsets of the westernmost United States. This inspired collection of crave-worthy recipes, gorgeous photographs, and vivid stories takes us on a road trip beginning at Chef Scott Clark's beloved sandwich-and-pie shop, Dad's Luncheonette, in Half Moon Bay and ending in Ventura County. Along the way, it visits the fishermen, crabbers, farmers, winemakers, and foragers who stretch along the Pacific Coast Highway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Clark's accessible seasonal recipes deliver the adventure of the coast in smart, creative, unfussy, and delicious ways. They express the breadth of California cooking and its regional and cultural influences, organized into thematic chapters, including: \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Road Trip Snacks (Furikake Popcorn, CA Muddy Buddies, Perfect Meyer Lemonade) \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Fishing and Foraging on the Coast (Dungeness Crab Rice, Lingcod Ceviche, Fries with Eyes) \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Lunch in the Vineyard (Smoked Mackerel with Lemon-Dill Relish, Deviled Quail Eggs, Barley and Wine Grape Salad) \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Back Home with the Kid (Fish Stick Hand Roll Bar, Matcha Mochi Waffles, Watermelon Aqua Fresca) \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eCoastal\u003c\/i\u003e is more than your average California cookbook; it brings the Californian table, way of life, and state of mind to home cooks and armchair travelers anywhere. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eQUINTESSENTIALLY CALIFORNIAN: Scott Clark's Californian culinary training shows through in his stellar recipe list, laidback storyteller's tone, and road trip-oriented approach. With transporting photographs by fourth-generation Californian Cheyenne Ellis, this book captures an outdoorsy, pioneering California spirit on every page. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e HOME COOK-FRIENDLY RECIPES: \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eFrom simple flavor pairings to grilling, Clark's \"aha!\" techniques are perfect training for home cooks. He reaches into his deep knowledge to pass along big flavors and teachable techniques with a relaxed and flexible approach. His main goal is to energize food prep for home chefs of varying skill levels. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e MULTICULTURAL INFLUENCE: \u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eCoastal \u003c\/i\u003eis inspired by the mash-up of cultures along the west coast: the Chumash, Portuguese, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Latin American, Vietnamese, and Japanese communities who have adapted their cuisines and made them staples of the state. This book celebrates and pays homage to all of these wonderful cuisines. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePerfect for: \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Home cooks who cook locally and seasonally \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Residents and visitors of California or anyone who enjoys California cuisine \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Foodies who collect regional cookbooks rich with history and visuals \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Parents who want to put fun but healthy things to eat on the table for their kids \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Armchair travel readers \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Fans of regenerative\/farm-to-table approaches \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Fans of \u003ci\u003eThe Bear\u003c\/i\u003e and tough-yet-well-trained culinary personalities \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Readers of \u003ci\u003eSix California Kitchens\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTartine\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eGjelina\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe French Laundry Cookbook\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Chronicle Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52188800221415,"sku":"9781797226644","price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0449\/4075\/5096\/files\/imageloader_44d1d162-2fe6-46b0-aa32-b661e2302e97.jpg?v=1781167499"}],"url":"https:\/\/arvidabookco.com\/collections\/books-about-california.oembed","provider":"Arvida Book Co.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}