[.ca] Cultivating California: Growers, Specialty Crops, and ... (ISBN 0801862213)

From the publisher's website:
"This is an important book because it dares to take on -- with considerable success -- a paradigm that has prevailed since the publication of Carey McWilliams's Factories in the Field in 1939. Cultivating California is a crisply written, fast-paced narrative based upon extraordinary research. It is also a courageous effort to clarify the history of agriculture in California by making room for the high ideals of the turn-of-the-century horticultural generation." -- Kevin Starr, Business History Review "This detailed history of four central and northern California agricultural communities is developed around pivotal issues of race, gender, market forces, and entrepreneurial vision. It is local history at its best." -- Harry C. McDean, Western Historical Quarterly "Cultivating California is expertly researched and gracefully written... \oIt\c is an extremely important book that will be read by scholars in agricultural, labor, and California history." -- David Igler, Agricultural History "Vaught... is a good writer, but an even more valuable trait... is his dedication to research. This book tells an intriguing story, and it should thus rank very high on the reading list of any historian interested in the history of agriculture and labor in the American West." -- Carlos A. Schwantes, Journal of American History "A must for scholars interested in the Golden State's controversial history." -- Paul Rhode, Agricultural History Review

Accessibly revealed in the course of this involving account:
Students of California history and agricultural development will find Cultivating California an intriguing story of growers, specialty crops, and labor developments in the state from 1875-1920, revealing how politicians, growers, and organizations interacted in the process of cultivating California's crops. Labor relations and agricultural development planning are all accessibly revealed in the course of this involving account.