I’m a California native and I minored in American history at Berkeley, but I’d never known how close California came to domination by the slave powers during the pre- and Civil War years until I started researching the building of San Francisco for After the Gold Rush.
And i thought i was simply uninformed about any of this history because i'm from the east coast. Filling in so many blanks that never even occurred to me before... makes so much sense!! Thank you, Alexandra, for writing this spectacular recounting of such important American history! California stole my heart decades ago... and now I appreciate it even more.
But it was only my deep dive into San Francisco history during the pandemic that made me start to understand a small part of what had really been going on. I read and continue to read hundreds of books, newspapers of the time, academic papers, novels written by my "characters", books of poetry,, scribbling notes on the most amazing connections. This project will end up killing me — but what a way to go!
Thank you so much for your detailed comments. This is a side project for me - my living is crime novels. But you will keep me on track with this one.
And i thought i was simply uninformed about any of this history because i'm from the east coast. Filling in so many blanks that never even occurred to me before... makes so much sense!! Thank you, Alexandra, for writing this spectacular recounting of such important American history! California stole my heart decades ago... and now I appreciate it even more.
Suz-an, now you see! At Berkeley I studied under one of the great California historians and authors: Gunther Barth. https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/inmemoriam/html/guntherbarth.htm
But it was only my deep dive into San Francisco history during the pandemic that made me start to understand a small part of what had really been going on. I read and continue to read hundreds of books, newspapers of the time, academic papers, novels written by my "characters", books of poetry,, scribbling notes on the most amazing connections. This project will end up killing me — but what a way to go!
Thank you so much for your detailed comments. This is a side project for me - my living is crime novels. But you will keep me on track with this one.