The Great Central Valley: California's Heartland (A Centennial Book)

This book IS a tour de force, an exceptional literary AND photographic gem, and everyone who loves California and its history and geography should read this volume. It is without any doubt the finest book ever written concerning the "core" of the Golden State!The content includes just about everything of importance ever written about the social, physical & cultural history of the Central Valley, with its coverage of agriculture being well-balanced with the many other topics it covers. The art work and photos and drawings/graphs are just superb and the writing itself is of the finest caliber. You will not be sorry you bought this book and you will cherish it, but it is rather expensive. It was written in 1993 and published on acid-free, high quality paper, and I recommend the hardbound version if you can afford it.I was fortunate to buy two copies recently from Amazon's secondary sellers, plus I had already purchased two copies of the paperback version. This book is large (13" x 10.5" x 1.25 inches) but it is a little unwieldy in the paperback version due to its size and weight. The paper and photo quality of the paperback is the same as the hardbound but the hardbound in "like new" condition is a true archival, museum quality volume and the price of this version will only go up in the future....the University of California (the book's publisher) rarely if ever prints more than one printing of its best hard-bound volumes, and this particular book in hard cover will undoubtedly never be printed again.

THE GREAT CENTRAL VALLEY is a fat, heavy, glossy-paged book of photographs taken throughout the heart of California. Valley native Gerald Haslam, who has written extensively about this region, provides the text. The Table of Contents is: Prologue An Overview Historical Patterns The Delta The Sacramento Valley The San Joaquin Plain The Tulare Basin Some Issues The Cusp of the Future Epilogue Exhibit Inventory Sources IndexI know of no book that more forcibly exudes the spirit, the voice, of the Great Central Valley, present through a photographic cornucupia, historical information and anecdote, regional knowledge, ecological data, and expertly written texts, all deeply humane in their display of people and landscapes joined in an ever-transforming heartland four hundred miles long and sixty wide.

If, like me, you are fascinated by lesser known California landscapes, you will love this book.

Great book for research. My husband spends a lot of time reading through and finding details for his writing. A Central Valley native, he is learning a lot about his stomping grounds.

Perfect!

Very disappointed that this book didn't include more of the Lodi, Stockton areas. A lot was left out. What's in the book is good though.

Educational for my classroom.

I bought the book mainly to see the work of photographer Stephen Johnson, and his work truly delivered. These pictures are a must study for landscape photographers. His photographs capture a simple beauty and are a heartfelt display of the region. Also, I was pleasantly surprised by the work of photographer Robert Dawson, and by the amount of information contained within the pages of "The Great Central Valley". If you enjoy photography or are interested in California history, you will highly enjoy this book.