California Natural and Environmental History

Mt. Lassen Erupts in 1915
Courtesy Shasta Historical Society

Books on the Natural History of California

Our Recommendations

Water and the Shaping of California : A Literary, Political, and Technological Perspective on the Power of Water
by Sue McClurg, 2000
$35.00

Published in conjunction with the Water Education Foundation, for which McClurg produces the bimonthly Western Water. She tells the story of conflicts such as feuds between neighboring states and between farmers and industry, and intersperses poetic musings on water's natural beauty by writers of the past and present. The volume's 12 depth accommodates large color photographs.

All the Wild & Lonely Places : Journeys in a Desert Landscape
by Lawrence Hogue, 2000
$24.95

The vast, sere Colorado Desert of southern California, on the verge of the coastal range east of San Diego, is a forbidding landscape. Its sandy flats are dotted with cattle skulls, its skies with vultures, its maps with names like Hellhole Canyon, Devil's Ditch, and Bone Wash. Yet, writes Lawrence Hogue in this lively natural history of the area, which includes Anza-Borrego State Park and the Salton Sea, the desert's fearful aspect has not kept fellow travelers from the place, seeking solitude, enlightenment, or gold.

Transforming California : A Political History of Land Use and Development
by Stephanie Sabine Pincetl, 2000
$45.00

[This book] coversthe previously neglected terrain of California's environmental history a story which has been absolutely central to the narrative of resource exploitation in America and of some of the most far-sighted attempts to resist it. This is an extraordinarily useful and important book. -- Richard A. Walker, University of California, Berkeley

Salt Dreams : Land & Water in Low-Down California
by William deBuys, Joan Myers (Photographer), 2000
$35.00 (less discount)

An absorbing record of the ideas and people that tamed the Colorado River and transformed southeastern California from a desert into one of the continent's great agricultural regions. . . .a notable exploration of how the American dream has played out in one representative locale.-- Publishers Weekly

Picturing California's Other Landscape : The Great Central Valley
by Heath Schenker (Editor), 1999
$35.00 (less discount)

Best known for its fertile soils and bountiful crops, the landscape of the Great Central Valley is often celebrated for its utilitarian, rather than its aesthetic, value. Picturing California's Other Landscape--featuring a stunning selection of historic and contemporary paintings, photographs, tourist art, advertising images, and maps--allow us to view the landscape of the Central Valley through the eyes and sensibilities of more than sixty-five visual artists.

National Audubon Society Field Guide to California
by National Audubon Society, Peter Alden, 1998
$19.95 (less discount)

Filled with concise descriptions and stunning photographs, the National Audubon Society Field Guide to California belongs in the home of every California resident and in the suitcase or backpack of every visitor. This compact volume contains: An easy-to-use field guide for identifying 1,000 of the state's wildflowers, trees, mushrooms, mosses, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, butterflies, mammals, and much more.

America's Wilderness : The Photographs of Ansel Adams With the Writings of John Muir
by Ansel Adams (Photographer), John Muir (Contributor), 1997
$17.98

In this magnificent volume, the land Adams loved and strived to portect endures as he saw it--undefiled, incomparable--championed in the most eloquent and impassioned words Adams ever wrote. Evocative photographs of such breathtaking sights as Grand Canyon National Park, Kings River Canyon, and Yellowstone National Park are paired with quotes from a noted naturalist in this tribute to America's national parks.

John Muir : Nature Writings
by John Muir, William Cronon (Editor), 1997
$35.00 (less discount)

In a lifetime of exploration, writing, and passionate political activism, John Muir made himself America's most eloquent spokesman for the mystery and majesty of the wilderness, a master of natural description who evoked and celebrated with unique power and intimacy the untrammeled landscapes of Alaska and the American West.

Ansel Adams' California
by Andrea Stillman (Editor), Ansel Adams, 1997
$50.00 (less discount)

This volume collects the full range of Ansel Adams' California images for the first time, focusing largely on his lesser-known work outside the Sierra. The 70 beautifully reproduced duotone photographs capture some of California's most striking and exemplary vistas, accompanied by passages from a wide range of notable writers, including John Muir, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark Twain, and John Steinbeck.

	Water and the Shaping of California : A Literary, Political, and Technological Perspective on the Power of Water by Sue McClurg, 2000 $35.00
Published in conjunction with the Water Education Foundation, for which McClurg produces the bimonthly Western Water. She tells the story of conflicts such as feuds between neighboring states and between farmers and industry, and intersperses poetic musings on water's natural beauty by writers of the past and present. The volume's 12 depth accommodates large color photographs.
	All the Wild & Lonely Places : Journeys in a Desert Landscape by Lawrence Hogue, 2000 $24.95
The vast, sere Colorado Desert of southern California, on the verge of the coastal range east of San Diego, is a forbidding landscape. Its sandy flats are dotted with cattle skulls, its skies with vultures, its maps with names like Hellhole Canyon, Devil's Ditch, and Bone Wash. Yet, writes Lawrence Hogue in this lively natural history of the area, which includes Anza-Borrego State Park and the Salton Sea, the desert's fearful aspect has not kept fellow travelers from the place, seeking solitude, enlightenment, or gold.
	Transforming California : A Political History of Land Use and Development by Stephanie Sabine Pincetl, 2000 $45.00
[This book] coversthe previously neglected terrain of California's environmental history a story which has been absolutely central to the narrative of resource exploitation in America and of some of the most far-sighted attempts to resist it. This is an extraordinarily useful and important book. -- Richard A. Walker, University of California, Berkeley
	Salt Dreams : Land & Water in Low-Down California by William deBuys, Joan Myers (Photographer), 2000 $35.00 (less discount)
An absorbing record of the ideas and people that tamed the Colorado River and transformed southeastern California from a desert into one of the continent's great agricultural regions. . . .a notable exploration of how the American dream has played out in one representative locale.-- Publishers Weekly
	Picturing California's Other Landscape : The Great Central Valley by Heath Schenker (Editor), 1999 $35.00 (less discount)
Best known for its fertile soils and bountiful crops, the landscape of the Great Central Valley is often celebrated for its utilitarian, rather than its aesthetic, value. Picturing California's Other Landscape--featuring a stunning selection of historic and contemporary paintings, photographs, tourist art, advertising images, and maps--allow us to view the landscape of the Central Valley through the eyes and sensibilities of more than sixty-five visual artists.
	National Audubon Society Field Guide to California by National Audubon Society, Peter Alden, 1998 $19.95 (less discount)
Filled with concise descriptions and stunning photographs, the National Audubon Society Field Guide to California belongs in the home of every California resident and in the suitcase or backpack of every visitor. This compact volume contains: An easy-to-use field guide for identifying 1,000 of the state's wildflowers, trees, mushrooms, mosses, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, butterflies, mammals, and much more.
	America's Wilderness : The Photographs of Ansel Adams With the Writings of John Muir by Ansel Adams (Photographer), John Muir (Contributor), 1997 $17.98
In this magnificent volume, the land Adams loved and strived to portect endures as he saw it--undefiled, incomparable--championed in the most eloquent and impassioned words Adams ever wrote. Evocative photographs of such breathtaking sights as Grand Canyon National Park, Kings River Canyon, and Yellowstone National Park are paired with quotes from a noted naturalist in this tribute to America's national parks.
	John Muir : Nature Writings by John Muir, William Cronon (Editor), 1997 $35.00 (less discount)
In a lifetime of exploration, writing, and passionate political activism, John Muir made himself America's most eloquent spokesman for the mystery and majesty of the wilderness, a master of natural description who evoked and celebrated with unique power and intimacy the untrammeled landscapes of Alaska and the American West.
	Ansel Adams' California by Andrea Stillman (Editor), Ansel Adams, 1997 $50.00 (less discount)
This volume collects the full range of Ansel Adams' California images for the first time, focusing largely on his lesser-known work outside the Sierra. The 70 beautifully reproduced duotone photographs capture some of California's most striking and exemplary vistas, accompanied by passages from a wide range of notable writers, including John Muir, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark Twain, and John Steinbeck.

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