California Growth Reading List

There’s quite a few good books on the history of California, and how its culture evolved to be anti-growth, and pro-environment. As usual, “recommended reading” are books that are interesting to pick up and read (while still being useful references), while “other sources” are books that are useful references, but probably not of interest to the general reader.

Recommended reading:

California: A History by Kevin Starr, 2005 — Kevin Starr is a historian who focuses on California, and this book is a great general history of the state, dating from the earliest Indian residents, through the Spanish and Mexican eras, to California joining the U.S. and its subsequent evolution through the 19th and 20th centuries. Though it covers the entire arc of California history, most of the focus is on the period from 1850 to 1960 or so. There’s also individual chapters on things like California in WWII, labor issues, artistic movements, and so on. A good starting point for establishing context and learning more about the state, especially the “golden era” of building from ~1900 to ~1960. For those who want a more detailed general history, Starr has also written a series of other books on specific periods in California history (none of which I have read).