Books acquired: “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” Maya Angelou; “Kindred,” “Bloodchild,” Octavia Butler; “Creating an Orange Utopia: Eliza Lovell Tibbetts and the Birth of California’s Citrus Industry,” Patricia Ortlieb and Peter Economy; “Celebrating 150 Years of Riverside,” Riverside Historical Society; “Crocker’s Folly: The Development of, and Opposition to, the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway,” Steve Lech
Books read: “A People’s Guide to Orange County,” Elaine Lewinnek, Thuy Vo Dang and Gustavo Arellano; “West of Slavery: The Southern Dream of a Transcontinental Empire,” Kevin Waite; “Octopus’s Garden: How Railroads and Citrus Transformed Southern California,” Benjamin T. Jenkins; “Foucault in California,” Simeon Wade; “After the Dome Fire,” Ruth Nolan
Happy fall, readers! Of course the only leaves we are interested in in these monthly posts are the leaves of books. They turn, no matter the season. They don’t change color exactly, although they may become discolored, or yellowed.
What did I read in September? As promised, they were all nonfiction books about the West. There was one I needed to read for an upcoming column, and I used that as an excuse to knock off two others, a third that a friend loaned me (or gave me? I’ll have to ask) and even a related chapbook at the end of the month, for a total of five.
Here’s how it went.
“Orange County” (2022): Gathers together marginalized histories from around a county widely perceived as bland suburbia. There are lynching and police shooting sites; a former salon whose owner fought a fair housing battle; the Cambodian-owned birthplace of the pink doughnut box. My favorite entry is about the Japanese American strawberry farmers who held out against Disneyland for decades until retiring with a big payday. However, the writing is generally dry, and nobody to the right of Zack de la Rocha is likely to drive around to the mapped sites. Valuable, but more of a chore to read than I’d expected. (Bought in 2022 at the launch event, where my copy was signed by all three authors!)
“West of Slavery (2021): We think of slavery as having been confined to the geographic southeast. Waite explores how the South dreamed of slavery from sea to shining sea, and how leaders embarked on several strategies in Western states to get there, including a southern mail route and a southern railroad, both ending in California, and pro-slavery laws passed by the transplanted Southerners who dominated Western legislatures. California, a secessionist hotbed? That certainly cuts against our image of our state. (Sent by the publisher in 2021 at the author’s request.)
“Octopus’s Garden” (2023): Jenkins tells the story of the Orange Empire that held sway in Southern California, particularly in the inland counties, from 1870-1950, and explores the ways in which the citrus industry and railroads were partners in the enterprise. (The rail monopolies were branded as the Octopus, and citrus represented a garden, thus the title.) Jenkins moves significantly past the crate labels’ superficial cheer to explore the good and bad of citrus. An impressive feat of scholarship, and the writing, while dense, is relatively vigorous for an academic work. However, we await Ringo Starr’s judgment. (Sent by the publisher in 2023 at the author’s request.)
“Foucault in California” (2019): As a resident of Claremont, where much of this (but not the acid trip) takes place, and a scholar of the byways of its history, I enjoyed this unexpected sidelight about the time in 1975 when Michel Foucault visited and lectured, and incidentally ate at Sambo’s. Foucault, whom I knew nothing about, comes across as more normal than his local adherents despite being a famous French intellectual. This slim book might be of interest to his admirers, especially the transcription of his lofty Q&A with students, conducted on a level well over my head. (Received in August from a friend.)
“After the Dome Fire” (2023): A slim volume of poetry, plus photos, about the Mojave Desert by the well-known desert writer and scholar. Many have an environmental bent. As a former wildlands firefighter, as well as a mother, she brings welcome perspectives to the subject, especially as the desert landscape is often seen as more of a male domain, a place to test yourself, blah blah blah. But women like it too. (Gift of the author in June.)
Of the month’s books, “West of Slavery” is the standout, with “Octopus’s Garden” a near second. To be clear, these are scholarly books with copious endnotes on sources, extensive bibliographies and indexes. “OC” is scholarly at times. They are not casual reads. But as a semi-scholar, I’m glad to have read them and to have them on my shelves.
I’d have liked to have also read the great Carey McWilliams’ “Southern California: An Island on the Land,” which a friend gifted me three years ago, and which would have fit the theme, but there are only so many days in a month. Well, eventually I’ll get to it.
Next month’s Reading Log will have two (or three?) vintage science fiction story collections and (possibly?) a vintage mystery, so October should be slightly more mainstream but still a little arcane. Thankfully you readers bring your own eclectic tastes to bear here.
Note from the lists up top that I acquired six books in September while reading five books. Oh well. I went to a local history book fair in Riverside and used a gift certificate at Octavia’s Bookshelf in Pasadena, buying three at each.
How was your September, readers? We’re now three-fourths of the way through 2023 and I hope you’re getting to a lot of the books you intended to read this year. If you aren’t, well, you’ll get to them.
Next month: Mass market paperbacks.