The Passenger: California
309
The Passenger: California
309eBook
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Overview
From the Gold Rush to Hollywood’s golden age to the rise of Silicon Valley, California has long stood as the brightest symbol of the American dream. In recent years, however, the country’s mainstream media has been declaring with increasing frequency—and thinly veiled schadenfreude—the “end of California as we know it.”
The pessimists point to rising inequality, racial tensions, and the impact of climate change as evidence that the Californian dream has been shattered. Between extreme heat, months-long droughts, devastating wildfires, and rising sea levels, looking at California is like watching the trailer for what awaits the world if we don’t act to reduce global warming. Faced with these pressures, more and more Californians are leaving the state, leading to an unprecedented decline in population that could change the cultural and political balance of power in the country at large.
That said, demographic decline and climate disasters don’t tell the whole story of one of the most dynamic and diverse states in the Union—one that continues to drive technological and political innovation and define the evolution of work, food, entertainment, and social relations. This volume offers a fascinating picture of California in all its complexity and contradictions—an attempt to understand the laboratory where much of the world’s future continues to be written—with pieces including:
Growing Uncertainty in the Central Valley by Anna Wiener • How Does It Feel to Be a Solution? by Vanessa Hua • The Burning of Paradise by Mark Arax • Plus: direct democracy and unsustainable development, the rise of the “land back” movement, the cultural renaissance of Los Angeles in defiance of rampant gentrification, and much more . . .
“The Passenger readers will find none of the typical travel guide sections on where to eat or what sights to see. Consider the books, rather, more like a literary vacation.” —Publishers Weekly
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781609457822 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Europa Editions, Incorporated |
| Publication date: | 03/08/2023 |
| Series: | The Passenger , #10 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 309 |
| File size: | 25 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
Table of Contents
Some Numbers 6
Decalifornication Francesco Costa 9
California is a prosperous, welcoming state with high-tech cities, stunning landscapes, an economy in rude health and low unemployment, so why is it haemorrhaging residents to neighbouring states? What has happened to the Californian Dream?
Three Kids, Two Paychecks, No Home Brian Goldstone 27
In Salinas, Monterey County, a fertile corner of California that feeds much of the USA, soaring housing costs mean working families end up sleeping in shelters and parking lots. Here we meet Brenda, Candido and their kids, forced to live in a minivan and suffer the cascading effects of homelessness.
Rematriation Lauren Markham 43
For thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, the territory we now know as California was inhabited and cared for by Indigenous people. After centuries of land grabs, genocide and environmental devastation, a movement calling for a return of the land to its legitimate custodians is finally achieving its first concrete results.
Growing Uncertainty in California's Central Valley Anna Wiener 57
California produces much of the food that ends up on America's tables, but drought and frequent interruptions to the supply chain mean it is time to ask whether the current system is sustainable.
What Does It Mean to Be a Solution? Vanessa Hua 75
The Asian-American community is fighting back against its imprisonment in a rigid stereotype that sees them only as taciturn, hard-working people incapable of relating to others. At the forefront of this is a new generation of writers whose literary creations are finally reflecting a more multifaceted image.
Shadows in the Valley Francisco Cantú 91
For millions of Americans, Yosemite National Park represents an ideal of unsullied nature, an image perpetuated through family stories and the nation's epic narratives. But to ignore the history of violence and genocide behind the park's creation, we risk doing wrong not only to the victims but also to ourselves, because in taking this approach we are denied the chance to understand a place linked as much to human history as it is to its rocks and its waterfalls.
Tipping the World Over-Michele Masneri 115
From counterculture movements to the dominant culture, technological shifts to culinary trends, what happens in San Francisco and the Bay Area gives us a sneak preview of what the rest of us will be doing in a few years' time. Journalist Michele Masneri turns his European gaze on the space-time divide between Silicon Valley and the rest of the world, not as a correspondent from a foreign country but from the future.
Gone: The Burning of Paradise Mark Arax 127
A distinguished reporter tells the terrifying story of the 2018 Paradise fire, explaining why it should never have happened but will happen again and why climate change is not the most significant factor.
Ballot-Box Blues: The Indirect Road to Direct Democracy NC Hernandez 151
Direct democracy in California takes many forms, sometimes unexpected, and the results of the various ballot initiatives are not always foregone conclusions. We take a look at this essential democratic tool through two of the most controversial propositions of recent times.
Some of Everything Lisa Teasley 169
Despite the gentrification that has reduced the African-American population of central Los Angeles to historic lows, arts and culture are thriving within the Black community, a response, in part, to the widespread anger following the murder of George Floyd.
Hollywood on Hollywood La McMusa 182
An Author Recommends Lisa Teasley 186
The Playlist Antonio De Sortis 188
Digging Deeper 190