California Books

When many people visit California to tour wineries, they head for Napa Valley on the weekend and sit in traffic jams for hours on route 29. Realizing that everyone in the slowly moving train may not be totally sober, the visitors think about how much they would like to be someplace else. A little known fact is that there are back roads into virtually every wine region in California that offer stunning vistas, gorgeous greenery and constantly changing scenes around every curve.

Backroads of the California Wine Country is a great resource for those inexperienced visitors. Otherwise, these well-meaning travelers will miss the best of what the wine country has to offer: Scintillating scenery!

The photographs do a great job of picking up on the amazing sights. Here are a few of my favorites:

p. 6 -- The moon rises over vineyards in Napa County's Carneros region

p. 11 -- A dramatic sunset over Napa Valley wine country

p. 13 -- Cirrus clouds float above the hills of the Redwood Valley of Mendocino County

pp. 18-19 -- The early morning sky glows orange in the hills above Ukiah

p. 22 -- Orr Springs Road twists and turns through some of the most pristine and dramatic landscapes in wine country

p. 30 -- This lovely tree-lined drive leads to Fetzer Vineyards, a wholly organic winery and the sixth-largest premium wine producer in the country

p. 31 -- The warm valleys around Hopland offer an ideal climate for growing grapes as well as apples and pears

p. 34 -- Mount Konocti, illuminated by the setting sun, looms large above this Lake County vineyard

p. 35 -- Peaceful at sunrise, Clear Lake State Park

p. 35 -- The vibrant flower gardens of Tulip Hill Winery

p. 38 -- A distant moon sets beyond a winter vineyard in the Valley of the Moon

pp. 42-43 -- Vineyards stretch across the Alexander Valley in northern Sonoma County

p. 47 -- Downtown Geyserville is lined with charming buildings

p. 83 -- A rainbow forms

p. 90 -- Hot air ballooning

p. 94 -- Winery at Groth Vineyards

p. 99 -- Grape vines and mustard plants

Nice work, Mr. Crabbe!

The text is equally inspired with a nice mix of California history, wine background, local features, and suggestions for activities you can enjoy. The text is also well endowed with maps to show you the directions of the backroads that you are being encouraged to pursue.

Here are some of the unexpected materials:

p. 24 -- Seabiscuit's home in Willits

p. 36 -- Organic farming methods

p. 45 -- Cyrus Alexander's founding of the Alexander Valley

p. 61 -- Jack London in the Sonoma Valley

p. 89 -- The soil of Rutherford

p. 108 -- Apple Hill, east of Placerville

p. 117 -- The Gold Rush

p. 125 -- Covered bridges

p. 133 -- Steinbeck's world

Here are the areas covered:

The Redwood Valley in Mendocino County
Anderson Valley
Hopland and the McDowell Valley
Lake County
Alexander Valley
Dry Creek Valley
The Russian River Valley
Green Valley
Valley of the Moon
Sonoma Valley
Northern Napa Valley
St. Helena
Eastern Napa Valley
Yountville
Oakville
Mount Veeder
Town of Napa
Wooden Valley
Los Carneros
El Dorado County
Shenandoah Valley
Calaveras County
Santa Cruz Mountains
Carmel Valley
Salinas Valley
San Juan Bautista
Paso Robles
Edna Valley
Santa Barbara County
Santa Ynez Valley

Nice work, Ms. Misuraca!

Don't miss this gorgeous volume. It'll transform your life if you follow its advice.

I lived in the Bay Area for several years and to be honest, the Wine Country is not really my cup of tea. However, the images in this book by Gary Crabbe are amazing and makes me feel as if I were there and enjoying myself. It takes a truly dedicated photographer to make such a wonderful collection of images of Wine Country. Many photographers have published photos of the Wine Country but these are some of the best photos I've seen from there.

The text by Karen Misuraca is well-written as well. It's informative going over a touch of history without over doing it and takes you on a literary road trip through the heart of the Wine Country. The photos and text compliment each other well and the book has a fair amount of both. In 160 pages, it's packed with meat as it works both as a photo book and travel guide.

If you'd like a personally signed copy, Mr. Crabbe is selling them through his website as well.

There are other books on touring California's wine country, but BACKROADS OF THE CALIFORNIA WINE COUNTRY: YOUR GUIDE TO THE WINE COUNTRY'S MOST SCENIC BACKROAD ADVENTURES has journeys even residents may not know about. One-day excursions for weekend travelers and wine lovers chart some of the lesser-traveled routes of the wine region from central California through Santa Cruz and north to Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino counties. Gorgeous black and white and color photos pack a bright treatment which details wines, scenery and other attractions - all beyond the usual tourist routes.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This is a very well written account of obsession that escalates into absolute madness. I found it very difficult to put this book down. Since the other reviewers have done an excellent job of summarizing the story, I won't be redundant.

The author has done a wonderful job of writing a true crime story that reads like a novel.

I highly recommend it!!

This beautifully written, highly detailed and extraordinarily resarched book probes into the case of a fatal attraction.

Tanya Tarasoff is a bright Russian-American girl attending a local community college in Berkely, California. She hopes to be accepted at Berkeley. Her father, a cruel, domineering problem drinker appears to have some rather paleolithic views of women in general. He verbally and physically mistreats his wife and Tanya's younger brother and sister. He snoops in Tanya's room, roots through her drawers and reads her mail. Tanya spends as little time as she possibly can at home, preferring the company of her fat friend Cindy. Cindy is described as Tanya's opposite number. Noncerebral and not academically inclined, Cindy appears to be more interested in the dating scene and is perfectly content to remain in a community college.

Tanya's aspirations are much greater. She takes a cultural dance class at Berkeley where she meets a student from India named Prosenjit Poddar.

Poddar, an Indian native and grandson of an Untouchable sees California as the Golden Dream. He falls into an obsessive love with Tanya and demands every minute of her free time. Tanya is plainly not interested in Poddar and involves herself in a number of sporadic flings. She falls in love with a boy identified as "Jeff" in a health food store and is crushed by his refusal to see her again after they have sex; she has a relationship with a boy during the last summer of her life and becomes pregnant. Tanya does not appear to have any sexual responsibility and she does not sound like she treated other people very well. One gets the feeling that Tanya likes using Poddar and having the superior position. She appears to like manipulating Poddar by acting like the brass ring; maybe, just maybe he can win her love if he plays his cards right. Of course, this is impossible and Tanya remains out of his reach at all times.

Poddar's obsession takes a dangerous tone when he stalks the girl, making recordings of their conversations and even buying her an Indian sari. He demands that she go out with him and chastises her like a stern parent when she does not show up at the appointed time. His controlling attitude towards her probably reminds her of her father's controlling attitude towards women in general.

Her father extends that controlling philosophy towards his only son. Beaten and browbeaten too many times, Alex leaves home and takes an apartment in the Berkeley area. Poddar learns of this and rooms with Alex. Alex is described as being a lot like the father -- he is cruel, explosive and completely contemptuous of Poddar. He dangles Tanya in front of Poddar's face like a treat. If Poddar will fix his Dodge Charger, he will repay the favor by telling him about Tanya. Tanya does not like Poddar and wants him out of her life.

Other Indian students who room with Poddar in the International House (I-House) insist that he seek counselling. His running obsession with Tanya is frightening and alarming. They successfully get him in therapy where Poddar further reveals his obsession with the Russian-American girl.

He hounds Tanya by telephone, sends her gifts and waits for her at her home. Tanya's repeated entreaties that he leave her alone go unheeded. Fortunately for Tanya, she had an aunt in Brazil who had been encouraging her to visit. Tanya's parents endorsed the idea, so Tanya spent the entire summer of 1969 in Brazil. Poddar deteriorated mentally and mourned the loss of having Tanya.

When Tanya returns to California in early August, Poddar appears to be at least trying to put her out of his mind. His doctors are alarmed at his choosing Tanya's brother as a roommate. One wonders why Poddar disclosed that fact. That was asking for more intervention, which was sorely needed by that point.

Poddar never really is able to release his obsession with Tanya. He resumes following and telephoning her. When she takes her first courses at Berkeley that fall of 1969, Poddar is waiting for her and stalking her. Tanya has made plans to move in with her fat friend, Cindy. She voices her concerns about the stalking to Cindy and at one point tells Poddar she is not interested in him. Refusing to get the message, Poddar's obsession escalates and buys a gun to finish off his unfinished business. He kills Tanya at her home in late October of 1969.

In a landmark lawsuit, Tanya's parents sued Berkeley and Poddar's treating psychiatrists for failing to disclose their real concerns that he was indeed a very dangerous patient.

This is a beautifully written, painstakingly researched and organized, fearless exploration of a tragic clash of character and culture. Deborah Blum strove for objectivity and empathy, understanding and identification, and she achieved it. In so far as a true crime story can be a work of art, this is one.

The setting is Berkeley 1969, Telegram Avenue and People's Park, etc. recalled with vivid and nostalgic detail. The two central characters, Prosenjit, an Indian exchange student at the university and Tanya, an American student, begin a flirtation that ends in tragedy. She is a sweet, innocent (or nearly innocent) girl who really only deserved to be loved, but she plays head games and heart games with Prosenjit who loves her passionately, and he is deeply hurt. I guess she couldn't know from her limited experience that in such situations some men can be dangerous. He is an Untouchable, or at least his grandfather was, and a nerd, and she lords it over him with her Caucasian beauty so that gradually he becomes obsessed with her. She grows uncomfortable with his obsession and wants him out of her life. But she calls him back after being dumped by another guy. The reader knows, as in a Greek tragedy, that this calling Prosenjit back reveals her fatal flaw.

Blum includes some photos of Tanya and some of Prosenji and his village in India. Her father is a jealous and controlling alcoholic, a Russian by birth who snoops around her room looking for evidence of liaisons and follows her about and forbids her to date although she is in college. She is a bright pretty girl who lacks in confidence. Prosenjit is a genius or nearly so, who has risen from his lowly birth to be one of the most promising of his generation in India. Interesting is his friend Jal Mehta, a Parsi Indian who knows Prosenjit from school in India and believes in his genius and tries to help him. Jal is confident and charming, articulate and wise in the ways of the world, but Prosenjit is jealous of him and cannot accept his help.

At some point Prosenjit begins to threaten violence, but Tanya continues to taunt him. She gets some satisfaction out of his obsessive love for her, but she hates him because he is such a nerd, and she despises his fawning behavior. Nonetheless, she comes to his room a couple of times a week and lords it over him. He secretly tape everything, and when she is gone he listens to the tapes over and over again, looking for some sign that she really loves him. He even splices some words together so that he has her saying "I love you." She rewards him sometimes with a tongue kiss on the mouth. Prosenjit, who is a prudish Victorian Indian, is both thrilled and shocked.

This is an excellent portrait of obsession. The clear compliancy of Tanya is notable. It suggests not just carelessness or an adolescent meanness, but something sadder, perhaps a self-destructive wish. Of course we feel sorry for her. We are led to feel sorry for both of them, just as we felt sorry for Romeo and Juliet.

Incidentally Tanya's parents eventually sued UC Berkeley, the shrinks in particular, for not warning them that their daughter was in danger. They won a landmark case that makes it mandatory for mental health care workers to warn potential victims if they think their client is dangerous.

This is no easy, inspirational biography. It really goes in depth. But you finish thinking you understand this enigmatic man about as well as possible.

If you like or are curious about Balanchine, READ THIS BOOK!

I've so happy I bought this book, it's a pleasure to read. I'm a long time ballet fan, but I would stronly recommend this book for anyone who is interested about ballet, you can learn so much reading it!

Taper's Balanchine biography is one of the best books I have ever read! It combines the biographical information with personal accounts and stories that really give you the feeling of getting to know the amazing George Balanchine. Some may have read other books, like Gelsey Kirkland's "Dancing on my Grave", that give a bad impression of Mr. Balanchine, but I promise if you read this book, you will have a change of heart. Although no biography can be completely free of bias, this author describes Mr. Balanchine in a truly honest and real way. I really do feel like I know Mr. Balanchine and I promise that if you read this incredible book, you will too

This book is an epiphany. Kittredge is the best essayist writing about the American west living today, and the photographs are almost perfect. This book will introduce readers to an area that has remained mostly obscure, an area where huge environmental dramas have long since began, and are still being played out. Many sympathies are presented in this book; lots of heros, too. An amazing read.

Five stars... without a doubt! Blake, Blake, and Kitteridge craft a compelling case for stewardship of the ecosystems we inhabit. The story is grounded in the Klamath Basin of Southern Oregon where a complex dance of men and nature is being played out. Historically, the federal government in the form of the Bureau of Reclamation identified the water rich basin as a region to promote for farming. No surprise that today the area is largely given over to farming and ranching. Prior communities consisted of local Native Americans who for the last hundred years or so have been driven out of the basin either by our military or our legal system. And last, but not the least in importance, the bio-diversity that suffers at the hands of lost habit, chemicals used for pesticides, and misguided management by public institutions.

Farmers, the indigenous Klamath people, migrating birds and native fish, all have their claims to the basin. From recalling the basin from his early childhood to driving the dirt roads to meet the 3rd generation farmers and ranchers, William Kitteridge's writing is exceptional at putting real faces and names to this place.

The story is made sublime with some of the most outstanding western wildlife photography you are likely to find. The photographs represent the sacredness of a place that serves as a stop for millions of migrating birds that no words can begin to portray.

A tragic postscript to the publishing of this book was a fish kill of some 30 thousand salmon on their way up the Klamath River to their spawning beds. Its been concluded that in stream flows got drawn down to the point where the migrating salmon stacked up in swallow and warm pools which ultimately depleted the water of oxygen. Only recently have federal wildlife managers admitted that diversion of water to farmers in the basin caused the massive fish kill in the Klamath.

Excellent narrative that provides the historic context for what is emerging as one of the most difficult and contentious fights between economic and enviromental interests anywhere in the US. The photography is outstanding and Kittredge's discussion of the people and the issues in this beautiful area provide concise insight for anyone interested in understanding the tragedy of US government policies on the management of the land, the people, the fish, and the birds of the Klamath Lake basin. Strongly recommend!!!

Steve Trimble's latest book is a compelling look at the tensions between private mega-enterprise and public interests. If you care about the future of open spaces (and not just in the American West), if you care about the future of community, if you care about how to tend to democracy in an age of fracture and fracas, this is a sobering look at a battle in Utah that can stand in for many such battles across the country. Refusing to give into cynical preaching, Trimble offers a nuanced look at his own complicity in questions of ownership and activism, which makes this book even more important. It ends with a hopeful, necessary "Credo," which also was recently published in High Country News. A fine naturalist, photographer and writer, Steve Trimble is a treasure. This book demands to be read, understood--and its lessons put into action by thoughtful citizens everywhere.

Stephen Trimble tackles the paradox of the modern west: how do people inhabit and develop a rapidly vanishing landscape? Trimble weaves the important tale of public land transformed into a commercial ski resort with his own construction of a second home near a national park. This juxtaposition elevates the book from polemic to a serious discussion of the many facets of land development. Trimble recognizes that there are no easy answers, but argues convincingly that wise land use policy requires the contribution of all of the stakeholders in the landscape: developers, environmentalists, long-time residents and the public in general.

What sets Trimble's book apart is his obvious affection not just for the land, but for the people who have lived on the land for many years. His interviews with men and women whose families have lived on the land for generations provides the reader with an often neglected perspective on the west. Trimble has an ear for the ironic poignancy of how development displaces those families who have lived and loved a particular place for generations, even as that landscape is changed by their own decisions regarding its value and use.

Highly readable, Trimble's natural storytelling ability comes through to illuminate a transformative moment in western history. As a native Montanan and long-time resident of Utah, I recommend it to all those who seek to understand a sense of place.

Trimble tells the story of reclusive oil executive Earl Holding and his struggle to develop a wild mountainside into a an elite ski resort, using the Olympics as a cudgel to overcome passionate local resistance. This is a compelling story that has not been covered outside of Utah. It is a shocking example of how the powers-that-be facilitate destructive and one-sided land use and how common citizens who personally know thew land and love it resist. The book then takes an unexpected twist: Trimble builds a second-home in a wild canyon in southern Utah and realizes he is becoming like his nemesis, Holding, just on a different scale. This confessional realization makes him dig deeper. Ultimately it is our own human nature he uncovers.

Why do we violate the integrity of ecosystems and habitat and how can we stop ourselves? these central questions are not resolved here. Trimble's book is both a heartfelt and intelligent invitation to public discourse on these critical questions. The reader could not get a more honest or wise guide than Trimble.

Take my advice from one artist to another... this book has impact. It has added so much to my understanding of what I do, and how I view abstracted figurative art in general. I recommend this book to all artists who work in figures. The reproductions in this book are full of color and there is very little to complain about. For those who are not artists, but enjoy reading about the subject, this book fulfills. You read about the artists struggles, success, personal lives and how they came to be THE Bay Area Figurative Artists. Their art, timeless... and this book lends them the respect they deserve but rarely get.

Michael Aldana
www.michaelaldana.com

Bay Area Figurative Art: 1950-1965

This is a wonderful book with a specific emphasis on the bay area figurative scene circa 50's & 60's. It vignettes several artists from the heavily enriched San Francisco Bay Area. I found it a good place to discover some lesser-known artists that played a part of the emerging figurative art movement. This book presents the last stirrings of abstract expressionism into the birth of a newly re-discovered figure. If you enjoy the works of Richard Diebenkorn , David Parks, Paul Wonner, Joan Brown, Elmer Bischoff, you may find a few other artist in this book to investigate further.

I had the opportunity to see this show in Philadelphia and it absolutely blew me away. Not only does it include Richard Diebenkorn's best work, but it also includes work by Paul Wonner, Elmer Bischoff, Manuel Neri, Nathan Oliveira and David Park (among others). I have drawn endless inspiration from this book and you most likely will too.

We have almost all of the Becka books now and read them to our son all of the time. I especially love the Becka Goes to San Francisco book. My husband proposed to me under the Golden Gate Bridge and we lived in the area for several years. We love having a children's book that exposes the wonders of such a special place with our son. Now when we take him to San Francisco, he can immediately relate to all of the sites he's seen in his Becka book.

Both my girls just adore Becka and her adventures. My two-and-a-half year old loves it when Beck blows a bubble and floats off to her next adventure. My five-year-old is just tickeled by the rhyming story line and asks question-after-question about the cities Becka visits on her bubble. I especially love reading the "San Francisco" version, being that I grew up there and the authors magical story-telling bring back some wonderful memeories of childhood. It's truly a book any child will love! We have all the "Becka" books and can't wait for the next one! It's soon to be a classic!

This is such a wonderful book! My 3 year old son was given this book as a present. We loved the book so much we bought all the other Becka and the Big Bubble books!

This is an outstanding book that should be read by policy makers, academics, activists and elected leaders. Great effort and job. This is the best book on the subject.

In a book that is essential to our appreciation of social inequality and class stratification in America, Edna Bonacich and Richard Appelbaum write Behind the Label: Inequality in the Los Angeles Apparel Industry. Basically, Behind the Label is an in depth study of the phenomenon of the proliferation of garment industry sweatshops in the Los Angeles area in. These sweatshops, Bonacich and Appelbaum et al argue, needs to be examined in relation to other factors: 1) the demise of American welfare, 2) the weakening of union involvement, and 3) juxtapose that to the globalization and caustic effect of "flexible production" (Bonacich 258).
In contrast to the bullish Thomas L. Friedman of The World is Flat fame, Bonacich and Appelbaum use the apparel industry in LA as a stark counterpoint to a neo-conservative economic framework and come up with an example of a Marxist inspired social scientific examination of the political economy (Bonacich 62). In this book, the manufacturers now have economic justifications to, at will, move production to wherever low-wage labor can be facilitated (Bonacich 56 - 57). Power, in this scenario, sits squarely in the hands of a cabal of powerful manufacturers and their comprador contractors. Unlike the high tech examples of Friedman - things are not getting better for these low tech workers, on the contrary, things are getting worse (Bonacich 180 - 181, and 196 - 199).
Manufacturers can substantially distance themselves from the sweatshops as they neither own them nor invest in them. The word is "plausible deniability" and manufacturers can deny working with sweatshops as they are buffered through contractual agreements only. Contractors serve as modern day middle man compradors (Bonacich 150 - 151). This distance protects the manufacturers and makes it difficult to call them account for the less than humane treatment of the lowest factory worker. In reality, the connection is direct and real. Manufacturers often, and Bonacich and Appelbaum posit, that manufacturer send a quality control representative - who comes almost on a daily basis - and can, and often do dictate delivery schedules.
With so much of the industry already moving south of the border, we are starting to see a sharp increase in imports of product into the United States and a decline in employment in local sites. Having said that how is it that there is still so much done in the LA area? Los Angeles is an enigma in that the industry continues to grow, is very resilient, and is, in effect, has become garment capital of America (Bonacich 36). One explanation is the ready supply of low-income immigrant (a mix of documented and undocumented) work force (Bonacich 189 - 190).
Behind the Label looks at the key group of actors in the L.A. apparel industry: manufacturers, contractors, retailers, and labor. Taken along each of these areas, Bonacich and Appelbaum evaluate and hope to ameliorate what they see as a disparity vis-à-vis wealth (Bonacich 115 - 126). Moreover, Bonacich and Appelbaum also take to account the role of government and the unions play in trying to get rid of sweatshops on the one hand while concurrently preventing the flight of jobs to places like Mexico and others that take the outsourcing (Bonacich 245 - 246). The book ends with a very interesting but idealistic adage of instituting more government controls and increase union involvement. Pretty much only the future knows what will happen.
Several questions come to mind, most which defy easy answers. Bonacich and Appelbaum et al are straightforward about their social agenda - that is to side with labor (Bonacich xi - xv). One has to wonder if their stated position colors or informs their analysis. Grounded on several interviews, statistical data, surveys, and ethnographic fieldwork (mostly participant observations), Bonacich and Appelbaum are careful not to seem flippant about the role of the manufacturers and contractors.
As a short backgrounder, 1965 was a watershed year for Asian immigration. Altering what began with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, continuing on with the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907, and on and on until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, Asian immigration was either closed or limited. The opening up of immigration to about 20,000 per county per year regardless of area of origin had a tremendous impact on the demographic picture of the United States. Sender countries like India, Korea, and the Philippines flooded the embassies with request for visas on an occupational/skill preference grading system and later with family re-unification request that did not fall under the quota system. Mind you, this is was all facilitated not out of American altruism but rather on a "pull" basis that was needs driven and greased on a "push" system that was a "brain drain" to sender nations.
The rise in Asian immigration had a remarkable impact on the demographic picture of the United States (Bonacich 169 - 170). There were dramatic shifts in and around the mostly inner city areas - of which we see in an example like Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, we see an already evolved stratification that seems to conflate race with class in a mostly white Jewish manufacturing strata (Bonacich 31 - 44), a middle class mostly Korean and Chinese contractor segment (Bonacich 150 - 151), and mostly a poor and working class group of Mexicans and Southeast Asians (Bonacich 189 - 190). Bonacich and Appelbaum are all too ready to bring to presence the El Monte case of Thai laborers who were practically incarcerated in this prison like sweatshop scenario that is both heartbreaking but more importantly very telling of a class divide that is not just apparent, it is cultivated (Bonacich 141).
Bonacich et al pen an interesting and compelling anecdote of the authors need to purchase a dress for a dinner/fund raiser dance for Jonathan Bernstein that raised a whopping $300,000 and cost Bonacich $300.00 for a dress that she seemed ill at ease to select and wear (115). Juxtaposed to this spectacle of extravagance was a yarn that marked Bonacich's involvement in a discussion with contractors and unions of which she was later treated like a pariah (Bonacich 123). The juxtaposition, I argue, is no coincidence. On the one had, one sees extravagance. On the other hand, we see abject poverty looking for spaces of resistance and justice. What is really more telling is that at the top of end of the food chain we see millionaires who are all too willing to donate to philanthropic causes (in an effort not to be seen as exploitive) but are also all too willing to keep wages below an "acceptable living" wage as demanded by ideological capitalism - it is all about efficiencies really. The race to the bottom is on (Bonacich 159).
There were also some curious but unanswered issues: there are no African Americas in the entire gamut and there is no discussion of gay and lesbian involvement in the industry. With so many African Americas in and around the LA area - and by far some of the most prolific consumers of fashion, why are there so few or actually no African Americas in the manufacturing process (Bonacich 172)? Moreover, with such a representation of gays and lesbians in the industry, why are they not included in the discussion? I find no speculative answer in the book nor do I wish to venture a guess.
Juxtaposing this book with Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat reveals that arguably Friedman is too bullish on the trends he outlines. Both books are clearly written from an American Rashomon or point of view but Behind the Label is clearly on side of labor and The World is Flat is clearly on side of capital. While Friedman is a reporter for the New York Times and Bonacich is a professor of Sociology at the University of California, Riverside - their respective backgrounds clearly influenced the writing of their books. Once could conceivably argue that there is no one size fits all in globalization studies and that Los Angeles (U.S.) or Ciudad Juarez (Mexico) is not Bangalore (India) and vice versa. Welcome to the new economic world order of 2008.

Miguel Llora

"Los Angeles is now the apparel manufacturing center of the United States" (page 16). 2,900 sewing companies work in LA for the 185 firms. Sadly, the apparel manufactureres use sweatshops.

According to Dr. Bonacich and Dr. Appelbaum, a "sweatshop" is a factory that fails to pay a living wage and does nto allow a worker to purchase a house and health care(page 11). Sadly, workers make less than the poverty line of $7,200 a year. Hence, concerned citizens like us wonder how sweatshops come to be and exist?

Again, according to Dr. Bonacich and Dr. Appelbaum, sweatshops are caused by 1) a high turnover in styles (14), 2) low tech tools, such as sewing machines, 3) the neglect of union representation, 4) cheap start-ups in other countries, 5) cheap labor, and 6) bossy retailers. The authors write, "Thousands of contractors can produce small lots rapidly. The city's industry is primed for the production of fashion at cheap prices" (p. 18). Thus, Los Angeles is the "sweatshop capital of the U.S" (p. 19).

A city of sweatshops is not a healthy city. ""Polarization is destructive to society." A Chinese person making $25.00 a month cannot afford $100 pair of shoes" (p. 24). Furthermore, immigrants do not have access to politicians, since wealthy people can buy lobbyists and call the govenor and threaten to move the industry. 2.9 million Angelinos make less than $20,000 yr.

The solution to sweatshops is to spread the cost-cutting activities in every area of apparel manufacturing. "Yet cost cutting is never aimed at the executives professionals or profits." As a result, "the garment industry is a throwback to the earliest phases of the industrial revolution" (p. 14).

I hope the supervisors in the valuable garment industry read this fine book.

This was an incredible book. Judith Pella kept you in suspense until the very last pages as she unfolded the story of Shelby and Frank. I encourage you to READ THIS BOOK!

Shelby has just lost her Dad, the only parent she has ever loved. She impulsively decides on a vacation in Puerto Vallarto, MX and while there, meets, falls in love and marries a man who is practically a stranger to her. Frank is a Mexican-American, well to do,and handsome man who shares her intense love in a whirlwind, one week romance.

However, coming back to their homes in Los Angeles, reality hits hard. Shelby learns of Frank's incredibly dysfunctional yet close knit traditional Mexican family. His mother makes no secret of the fact she hates Frank for his past mistakes. A grandmother adores him and a younger brother idolizes him.

When Frank's moods and behavior start taking wild swings, Shelby realizes there is much she has yet to learn about her mysterious new husband. The only things she is sure about is his love for her and for his boat and the sea. Both are about to be challenged.

Drugs and drug use figure hugely in this book and their effects on Frank and his brother Ray play an integral part. Illegal drug activity is at the root of most if not all the hatred, tension, loyalty and fast money which define the lives of the two brothers and their family.

Just when things are already confusing and volatile, Frank's ex-wife Gloria is found murdered. With drugs such a part of his past, Frank now has some major questions and decisions...who did kill his ex? Were drugs involved? The police seem dead certain that Frank is their man, but is he really? There is lots of circumstantial evidence, and Frank admits he was there the night she died.

At the very lowest point in this family's life, when there is no place to turn and no one else to help them, Frank and Shelby finally turn to the God of his grandmother and her mother, Dawn.

This is a really touching love story containing mystery and religion and is a book with deep emotion and lots and lots of surprises.

. . . but somehow, Judith Pella manages to create fresh, new characters with every book she writes--characters that aren't quite like any of the others she's introduced us to. Shelby and Frank are no exception! Shelby is at once endearing as the book opens with her father's funeral and the reader naturally sympathizes with her. Because of her impulsive nature, I found myself thinking so many times, "I would NEVER do that! " but it didn't make her any less appealing as the misguided heroine of the story. Frank, too, is a well-written character. He has the dark good looks, mysterious past, and serious passion that make him the ideal hero; but at the same time, there are his fun, flippant moods and his vulnerability which make him more than a cardboard stereotype. For a romance especially, the plot moves at near-hyperlight speed (once you get past the first chapter or so), with lots of twists and turns and interesting secondary characters. And as always, with Pella at the pen, the happily-ever-after ending isn't insultingly happy, but bittersweet. Wonderful job all around creating relationships between characters and intertwining lives in the most unlikely ways. Can't wait for her next book!

Overall, this is an excellent guide book. Attempting to cover the entire state of California in a single volume, the authors freely admit that their "list" is incomplete and that they had to whittle the book down to include a limited selection of historical sites from among the hundreds found throughout the state. Fortunately, the coverage of the places that made the cut is excellent, providing plenty of background information about not only the mission, mansion, or museum itself, but also its place in California history. Websites are listed when available, allowing the visitor to check out updated information prior to a visit. My only recommendation would be that the authors consider publishing a second volume that would add in the many deserving sites that couldn't be included in this book.

If you're a California resident or library seeking a fine blend of California trivia facts and history and a travelogue to the state's best museums, then you can't go wrong with Best of California's Missions, Mansions and Museums. It functions like a travel guide by offering hours, costs, contact information and trip and tour itineraries for visitors - and it functions like a history book in providing a healthy dose of background history about each establishment. The 'don't miss this' tips are particularly well done.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Thanks to the Internet, it's easy these days to compile and publish lists of things, such as bed and breakfast getaways or suspension bridges or pet friendly parks, but rarer for authors actually to visit the venues they write about. That's what impressed me about "Best of California's Missions, Mansions and Museums" ($21.95 in paperback from Wilderness Press) by Ken and Dahlynn McKowen out of Sacramento.

The couple, along with Dahlynn's two children, 9-year-old Shawn and his sister, 14 year-old-Lahre, hit the road for four months, visited some 200 sites and racked up 10,000 miles on the odometer. The result, after some editing, are chatty descriptions of 135 family-friendly California missions, mansions and museums. This is a good guide to consult if one is planning a summer vacation in the Golden State.

The listings, write the authors, "provide a broad geographic and subject-matter selection of California's missions, mansions and museums, primarily as they relate to California's history and culture." Picking the "best" was difficult, subjective of course, and a lot of places were not included (such as most science and technology museums) that didn't meet the criteria of illuminating state history.

In the area of missions, "our final choice came down to 13 missions that we felt included not only wonderful museums, but retained much of their original or at least their early 20th century restored historic fabric. ... We chose our favorite mansions in much the same way as the missions, but we added accessibility -- how frequently they are open to the public for tours."

For museums, the authors concentrated on smaller collections. "We didn't choose them because of their size or the value or rarity of their collections, although we certainly considered those things. ... We considered their uniqueness, not only in the types of collections and the variety of artifacts, but also in how they relate to California's overall history or to their local community's history."

The book is divided geographically, from the North Coast, through the Great Valley and on to the South Coast and desert. Each section has a numbered locator map, trivia questions and introduction. Each two- or three-page entry features a "what's here" list, a "don't miss this" note, a description of the venue, usually a small black and white photograph and a box providing operating hours, cost, location and the Web site. The book also features an index and a list destinations by category.

The chapter devoted to the Great Valley includes entries for the Turtle Bay Exploration Park (including the Sundial Bridge) in Redding, and Chico's own Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park.

The authors note that the second floor of the mansion "features several of the home's 12 bedrooms. That was not a good location for bedrooms in a town where summer temperatures reach 100 degrees, and upstairs rooms become even hotter. Possibly, the plantation windows served as summer escapes to cooler sleeping arrangements on the outside balcony. The indoor toilets that Bidwell included were thought strange by his neighbors and visitors. Many believed that having to perform such bodily tasks inside a house, rather than in an outhouse, was unsanitary."

And there is some Great Valley trivia. "Where can you find the very first Pony Car (Mustang) manufactured by Ford?" It's at the Towe Auto Museum in Sacramento. The car is a white convertible, the first to roll off the assembly line back on April 9, 1964.

See you on the road!

Copyright 2007 Chico Enterprise-Record. Used by permission.