Kevin Starr is State Librarian of California, contributing editor of the Los Angeles Times, and a member of the faculty at the University of Southern California. He is the author of a number of books, including Americans and the California Dream, Inventing the Dream, and Material Dreams. He lives in San Francisco.

This is an impressive and wide-ranging book, one in which the author displays mastery of a dazzling array of topics and disciplines ... The author also writes in a very colourful and lively style, ensuring that the book is always easy to read ... this is an enjoyable and informative work, one that will prove valuable both to Californian historians and to students of the Great Depression.