Friends of Montclair Library

The library will be closed September 9 for Admissions Day, the day California became a state.

In honor of California’s birthday, here is a baker’s dozen of non-fiction books – paired with complementary novels – to enhance your understanding of the Golden State, from Central Valley farms to Silicon Valley tech companies. Of course, California’s too big – and contains multitudes – to pick just a few books that capture every facet of its history and all the peoples who are part of it. But these books each capture something about the ethos of California – its mystique, its beauties, its challenges. If you have other California books to recommend, we’d love to hear about them – please add them in the comments! And check out links to more California book lists at the end of this page.

Note: Unless otherwise noted, the quoted parts of book descriptions are provided by the publisher.

California: A History by Kevin Starr
“The Golden State’s premier historian, Kevin Starr, distills the entire sweep of California’s history into one splendid volume. From the age of exploration to the age of Arnold, this is the story of a place at once quintessentially American and utterly unique. Arguing that America’s most populous state has always been blessed with both spectacular natural beauty and astonishing human diversity, Starr unfolds a rapid-fire epic of discovery, innovation, catastrophe and triumph.”
Fiction pairing: Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende

We Are the Land: A History of Native California by Damon B. Akins and William J. Bauer Jr.
“We Are the Land recounts the centrality of the Native presence from before European colonization through statehood-paying particularly close attention to the persistence and activism of California Indians in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.” (publisher)
Fiction pairing: There There by Tommy Orange

California Fault: Searching for the Spirit of State Along the San Andreas by Thurston Clarke
“With wit, irony and a keen eye for observation, Clarke weaves together sociology, history, personality and seismology” as he journeys the length of the San Andreas fault which has literally and figuratively shaped California.
Fiction pairing: Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee

Where I Was From by Joan Didion
Many California book lists justifiably include Didion’s iconic Slouching Toward Bethlehem, but in this slim volume, published in 2003, Didion examines not only her own life and family history in California, but also many of the forces that shaped California, from railroads to aerospace, and other authors who’ve gone before her.
Fiction pairing: Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

On Gold Mountain: The One-hundred-year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family by Lisa See
This book “chronicles the experiences of a Chinese-American family in California, beginning with the immigration of the author’s great-great-grandfather in the late 1800s.”
Fiction pairing: How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang (with honorable mention to perennial California book list icon The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan)

The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California by Mark Arax
“The Dreamt Land weaves reportage, history and memoir” as Arax “treks from desert to delta, mountain to valley” exploring the water distribution system “straining to keep up with California’s relentless growth.”
Fiction pairing: East of Eden by John Steinbeck

La Nueva California: Latinos From Pioneers to Post-millennials by David Hayes-Bautista
“Spanning one hundred years, this complex, fascinating analysis suggests that the future of Latinos in California will be neither complete assimilation nor unyielding separatism. Instead, the development of a distinctive regional identity will be based on Latino definitions of what it means to be American.”
Fiction pairing: The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
Although only a tiny portion of this book involves California, there is a good amount detail about Oakland, as Wilkerson “chronicles…the decades-long migration of Black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life” between 1915 and 1970.
Fiction pairing: Golden Poppies by Laila Ibrahim

Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
“One of the first families to arrive [at the Manzanar internment camp] was the Wakatsukis, who were ordered to leave their fishing business in Long Beach and take with them only the belongings they could carry.” Jeanne Wakatsuki, who was seven at the time, looks back on her family’s and community’s experiences in this powerful memoir.
Fiction pairing: When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

Alta California: From San Diego to San Francisco, A Journey on Foot to Rediscover the Golden State by Nick Neely
“Nick Neely chronicles his 650-mile trek on foot from San Diego to San Francisco, following the route” Gaspar de Portolá took in 1769.
Fiction pairing: The Golden State by Lydia Kiesling

The California Field Atlas by Obi Kaufmann
“This lavishly illustrated atlas takes readers off the beaten path and outside normal conceptions of California, revealing its myriad ecologies, topographies and histories in exquisite maps and trail paintings….the ultimate road trip companion and love letter to a place.”
Fiction pairing: Open Throat by Henry Hoke

King Sequoia: the Tree That Inspired a Nation, Created Our National Park System, and Changed the Way We Think About Nature by William C. Tweed
“From a towering tree, one of California’s preeminent naturalists unspools a history that echoes across generations and continents. Former park ranger William C. Tweed takes readers on a tour of the Big Trees” that symbolize the “embodiment of California’s superlative, almost unbelievable appeal.”
Fiction pairing: The Eve Tree by Rachel Devenish Ford

Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener
“Anna Wiener’s memoir is a rare first-person glimpse into high-flying, reckless startup culture at a time of unchecked ambition, unregulated surveillance, wild fortune and accelerating political power” during the dot-com boom at the turn of the century.
Fiction pairing: The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest by Po Bronson

More to explore:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/01/us/california-reading-list.html
https://californiacrossroads.com/best-books-about-california/
https://www.goodreads.com/list/tag/california
https://bookriot.com/california-history-books/