Historical insight is the alchemy that transforms the familiar story of the Gold Rush into something sparkling and new. The world of the Gold Rush that comes do

Explore the dynamic social world created by the Gold Rush in the Sierra Nevada foothills around Stockton through snapshots of prose that enter the encampments o

Winner of the Bancroft Prize The world of the California Gold Rush that comes down to us through fiction and film is one of half-truths. In this brilliant work

"The phrase ’seeing the elephant’ symbolized for ’49 gold rushers the exotic, the mythical, the once-in-a-lifetime adventure, unequaled anywhere else but

Celebrating the 150th birthday of the state of California offers the opportunity to reexamine the founding of modern California, from the earliest days through