The essayist explores American ideals of independence and self-reliance by probing her own life and those of her relatives, discussing how the character of California's settlers created the state as it exists today.

In February 1936, Los Angeles police officers drove hundreds of miles to California's state borders with one mission: turn back anyone deemed too poor to enter. Myths of the Golden State's abundance enticed thousands of Americans uprooted by the Depression, but those who created those myths saw only invading criminal "hordes" that they believed just one man could stop: James "Two-Gun" Davis, Los Angeles's authoritarian police chief. The Golden Fortress...

"The author tells stories of her Ohlone/Costanoan-Esselen family and the experiences of California Indians more widely through oral histories, newspaper clippings, anthropological recordings, personal reflections, and poems. This expanded edition features several additions, including a preface and a new closing essay"--

"The Gold Rush was a major event in the US during the 1800s. This book explores what the Gold Rush was and the lesser-known people who participated in the event"--

A compilation of essays and nonfiction writings spanning more than forty years includes the author's reflections on politics, lifestyle, place, and cultural figures, including such topics as Haight-Ashbury, the Manson family, the Black Panthers, California earthquakes, and Bill Clinton.

"Toypurina grew up in the village of Japchivit, where everyone had a role to play. She loved to gather elderberries from the woods, weave baskets, and listen to her grandmother tells stories. But all that changed when the Spanish came. As Toypurina grew and became medicine woman of her tribe, she learned about the harsh conditions of the San Gabriel mission. Tongva people who lived there were renamed and no longer allowed to speak their native tongue....