California

From the age of exploration to the age of Arnold, the Golden State's premier historian distills the entire sweep of California history into one splendid volume. Kevin Starr covers it all: Spain's conquest of the native peoples of California in the early sixteenth century and the chain of missions that helped that country exert control over the upper part of the territory; the discovery of gold in January 1848; the incredible wealth of the Big Four railroad tycoons; t he devastating San Francisco earthquake of 1906; the emergence of Hollywood as the world's entertainment capital and of Silicon Valley as th e center of high-tech research and development.