Nineteenth-century California was a society in turmoil, with a rapidly growing population, booming mining camps, insufficient or nonexistent law-enforcement personnel, and a large number of ethnic groups with differing attitudes toward law and personal honor.... more

John Muir, Mary Austin, and Gary Snyder are perhaps best known for their passionate connection to specific California ecological regions—Muir’s Sierra Nevada “Range of Light,” Austin’s southern “Land of Little Rain,” and Snyder’s “Kitkitdizze” region of the north.... more