California Dreaming: Society and Culture in the Golden State

California matters both as a place and as an idea. What famed historian Kevin Starr has called the California Dream is a vital part of American self-understanding. Just as America was meant to be a place of renewal even redemption for Europe so too California was intended as a place of renewal for America. Therefore California--place and idea--provides a fertile ground for scholars to think deeply about what it means to articulate the promise of American life.