Material Dreams

Kevin Starr is the author of the series Americans and the California Dream, including the previously published Americans and the California Dream, 1850-1915, and Inventing the Dream: California through the Progressive Era. The next installment is The Dream Endures: California through the Great Depression.

"[I]f you like narrative history, you will like this book very much...His coverage of the wide circle of literati that surrounded Jake Zeitlin is incredibly rich...One can only be in awe of the broadness of Starr's reading. An extensive bibliography at the end of the book is convincing evidence of his preparation."--Robert Winter, Pacific Historical Review"[A] masterfully detailed, readable account of America's most peculiar state and state of mind."--Joseph Rosenblum, Magill's Literary Annual"A splendid achievement: impressively researched, expertly argued and nicely varied."--The Boston Sunday Globe"An engaging, eccentric history of Southern California in the 20s...It has a sort of urban sprawl of its own, yet it manages to hang together in the way a three-ring circus does--a lot going on, clowns and trapeze artists and tigers, all under one awning...[R]ichly researched, informatie, fun to read...The writing is bright; it has substance, pace and vigor."--The Los Angeles Times Book Review"Starr's excellent history of California here reaches a third volume...Many of these stories have been told before, but they bear retelling by a writer with Starr's narrative gifts. Highly recommended."--Library Journal"Starr is the official historian of his home state, and this is the third volume in a brilliant work...The best history yet of what Starr call 'the Great Gatsby of American cities."--The Newark Star-Ledger"Starr's California Dream series...has evolved into something much richer and more significant that Starr could reasonably expected when he began...He is an honest scholar and a skillful storyteller."--James Fallows, he Atlantic Monthly