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Miriam Pawel, The Browns of California

Monday, October 1, 2018 - 7:00pm

Bookshop Santa Cruz welcomes Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Miriam Pawel for a book discussion and signing of The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty, a panoramic history of California and its impact on the nation, from the Gold Rush to Silicon Valley-told through the lens of the family dynasty that led the state for nearly a quarter century.

Even in the land of reinvention, the story is exceptional: Pat Brown, the beloved father who presided over California during an era of unmatched expansion; Jerry Brown, the cerebral son who became the youngest governor in modern times - and then returned three decades later as the oldest.

In The Browns of California, journalist and scholar Miriam Pawel weaves a narrative history that spans four generations, from August Schuckman, the Prussian immigrant who crossed the Plains in 1852 and settled on a northern California ranch, to his great-grandson Jerry Brown, who reclaimed the family homestead one hundred forty years later. Through the prism of their lives, we gain an essential understanding of California and an appreciation of its importance.

The magisterial story is enhanced by dozens of striking photos, many published for the first time. This book gives new insights to those steeped in California history, offers a corrective for those who confuse stereotypes and legend for fact, and opens new vistas for readers familiar with only the sketchiest outlines of a place habitually viewed from afar with a mix of envy and awe, disdain, and fascination.

Miriam Pawel is a journalist, independent scholar, and the author of The Crusades of Cesar Chavez, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, and The Union of Their Dreams. She has received several fellowships, including from the National Endowment for the Humanities. She was a Pulitzer Prize–winning editor at Newsday and the Los Angeles Times and lives in Pasadena, California.

This free event will take place at Bookshop Santa Cruz. Chairs for open seating are usually set up abour an hour before the event begins.

If you have any ADA accomodation requests, please contact bookshopevents@gmail.com by September 30th.

The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty that Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation By Miriam Pawel Cover Image
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ISBN: 9781632867339
Availability: Out of Print
Published: Bloomsbury Publishing - September 4th, 2018