The Browns of California

The Family Dynasty that Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation

Miriam Pawel

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Year: 2018
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781632867353
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

"Miriam Pawel's fascinating book . . . illuminates the sea change in the nation's politics in the last half of the 20th century."-- New York Times Book Review
California Book Award Gold Medal Winner * Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize * A Los Angeles Times Bestseller * San Francisco Chronicle's "Best Books of the Year" List * Publishers Weekly Top Ten History Books for Fall * Berkeleyside Best Books of the Year * Shortlisted for NCIBA Golden Poppy Award

A Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist's panoramic history of California and its impact on the nation, from the Gold Rush to Silicon Valley--told through the lens of the family dynasty that led the state for nearly a quarter century.
Even in the land of reinvention, the story is exceptional: Pat Brown, the beloved father who presided over California during an era of unmatched expansion; Jerry Brown, the cerebral son who became the youngest governor in modern times--and then returned three decades later as the oldest.
In The Browns of California, journalist and scholar Miriam Pawel weaves a narrative history that spans four generations, from August Schuckman, the Prussian immigrant who crossed the Plains in 1852 and settled on a northern California ranch, to his great-grandson Jerry Brown, who reclaimed the family homestead one hundred forty years later. Through the prism of their lives, we gain an essential understanding of California and an appreciation of its importance.
The magisterial story is enhanced by dozens of striking photos, many published for the first time. This book gives new insights to those steeped in California history, offers a corrective for those who confuse stereotypes and legend for fact, and opens new vistas for readers familiar with only the sketchiest outlines of a place habitually viewed from afar with a mix of envy and awe, disdain, and fascination.

Table of contents

• Cover
• More praise for The Browns of California
• Dedication
• By the Same Author
• Title Page
• Contents
• Map
• Preface
• The Mansion
• 1. The Pioneer
• 2. The Paris of America
• 3. The Yell Leader
• 4. The Roosevelt Democrat
• 5. Forest Hill
• 6. The Governor and the Seminarian
• 7. Fiat Lux
• 8. Down but Not Out
• 9. “Water for People. For Living”
• 10. The Turbulent Term
• 11. The Browns of Los Angeles
• 12. The Candidate
• 13. The New Spirit
• 14. Jerry and Cesar
• 15. To the Moon and Back
• 16. The Fall
• 17. Winter Soldiers
• 18. A Different Shade of Brown
• 19. Oakland Ecopolis
• 20. Son of Sacramento
• 21. Second Chances
• 22. Fiat Lux Redux
• 23. Past as Prologue
• The Mountain House
• Afterword
• Photographs
• Acknowledgments
• Bibliography
• Notes
• Index
• A Note on the Author
• Also Available from Miriam Pawel
• Copyright