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• SHOWDOWN!: LIONHEARTED LAWMEN OF OLD CALIFORNIA

  $15.95 $9.57 0 review(s)

  
  

  ?Showdown!: Lionhearted Lawmen of Old California? is a engaging collection of six biographies of early California lawmen: Sheriff John Bogard of Tehama County, Detective Emil Harris of Los Angeles, Deputy Sheriff Hiram Rapelje of central California, William J. Howard of Mariposa County, Sheriff David Douglas of Nevada County, and Lafayette Choisser of Mariposa County. Punctuated by gunshots and posse hoofbeats, these true tales illustrate, in both words and illustrations, the perilous lives of Old California?s brave lawmen, and vividly describe a time now gone forever. The courageous men profiled in this book were all colorful personalities. Hiram Rapelje rose to the heights, and depths, of his profession, while Emil Harris was a widely known detective throughout the state. William J. Howard was a member of Harry Love?s California Rangers that tracked down Joaquin Murrieta. Sheriffs Bogard and Douglas were both killed in the line of duty in dramatic showdowns.

• CALIFORNIA FEUDS

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• Highway 99: The History of California's Main Street

  $22.95 $13.77 0 review(s)

  
  

  Stephen H. Provost Before it was a modern freeway, California’s State Highway 99 was “the main street of California,” a simple two-lane road that passed through the downtowns of every city between the Mexican border and the Oregon state line. “Highway 99: The History of California’s Main Street” turns back the clock to those days when a narrow ribbon of asphalt tied the state’s communities together, with classic roadside attractions and plenty of fun along the way. “Highway 99” documents the birth, growth, and transformation of the highway; the gas stations, motels, restaurants, and attractions that flourished and declined by the roadside; and the communities, personalities, and historical events that made their mark on the highway. From the migrations of the Dust Bowl to the birth of the Bakersfield Sound to the foundation of America’s fast-food culture, the history of California has happened around Highway 99, and “Highway 99: The History of California’s Main Street” brilliantly depicts that history.

• LEGENDS OF THE CALIFORNIA BANDITOS

  $14.95 $8.97 0 review(s)

  
  

  "California Banditos" presents extraordinary, little-known tales of the infamous bandits and highwaymen who plied their trade in early California.

• Crossing California: A Cultural Topography of a Land of Wonder and Weirdness

  $14.95 $8.97 0 review(s)

  
  

  A Cultural Topography of a Land of Wonder and Weirdness by Sam McManis Sacramento Bee journalist Sam McManis spent five years on the road trying to find the real California. He discovered that there is more than one California, but every different California is equally weird and wonderful. Worlds collide and commingle: the neo-hippies with the rednecked farmers; the urban sophisticates with the quirky desert dwellers; the Hollywood power brokers with the Outsider Artists. Brought together in a bouillabaisse of voices, Crossing California will make you see the state in an entirely new light. From the briny scent of Fisherman’s Wharf to the fragrant sage scrub of Imperial County; from the otherworldly starkness of Death Valley to the crashing waves and flexing muscles at Venice Beach, Crossing California gives readers a first-hand experience. McManis has stalked the tony aisles of the newly minted Broad Museum in gentrified downtown Los Angeles, and quick-footed it through the International Banana Museum along the desiccated shores of the moonscaped Salton Sea. He has inadvertently gotten his car stuck in a tree at a cheesy drive-thru giant Sequoia roadside attraction along the hemp highway between Mendocino and Humboldt, and witnessed, with both fascination and can’t-look-away horror, grown men and women, sans children and sans inhibitions, belt out full-throated versions of "Let It Go" at a Disneyland sing-along. All told, Crossing California is a trip. Audience: Readers interested in California culture, history, oddities, and humor. About the Author: Sam McManis is a former columnist and feature writer for the Sacramento Bee. He is a four-time winner of the Society of Features Journalism awards and three-time Best of the West honoree. He also has been a staff writer and editor at the San Francisco Chronicle and a sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times. His profiles and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. He lives and writes in Washington state. $14.95 US • Trade Paperback • 6" x 9" • 280 pages ISBN 978-1-61035-313-7

• Behind San Quentin's Walls: The History of California’s Legendary Prison and Its

  $18.95 $11.37 0 review(s)

  
  

  San Quentin is one of the most famous prisons in American history, featured in countless movies and novels, yet few know its colorful early history. In Behind San Quentin’s Walls, noted Old West historian William B. Secrest reveals the beginning of San Quentin, from its unlikely start as a real estate scheme to its essential role in taming the lawless California of the Gold Rush era. Featuring numerous citations from contemporary accounts, plus period photos, illustrations, newspaper clippings, and maps, Behind San Quentin’s Walls chronicles the political calculations that created San Quentin; the outsize egos of the men who built it; the mismanagement and frequent escapes that marred San Quentin’s early years; and the notorious ruffians and cutthroats who were housed there. Filled with exciting true stories of gunfights, brawls, prison riots, daring escapes, and intrepid manhunts, Behind San Quentin’s Walls is a rip-roaring Wild West tale of how men and women with immense talent for both good and evil tamed a new state and each other.