I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. This is a great read about California's Central valley.

I received this book through NetGalley.

The Heart of California speaks to my own heart. This is a nonfiction exploration of California’s San Joaquin Valley over the past two centuries. It is about water, and human psychology, and the evolution of land for better and for worse, and about an abiding love and respect for a place often dismissed as “the armpit of California,”

The structure of the book follows a journey taken by historian Frank Latta and his sons in 1938, when a tremendous flood year inspired him to travel from Bakersfield to San Francisco by boat. If you know anything about modern California geography, that very concept is ludicrous because it's all dry, irrigated farmland. The author, Aaron Gilbreath, adds layers of extra context to the historical travelogue by lacing in information on central California through the precolonial era, the 19th century with Spanish and American settlement, and bringing it into the modern era as he retraces Latta's route as much as he can in 2014 by car. His modern journey is what really got me. He talks to everyone along the way, from the Starbucks barista to the rest stop prostitute to the taco shop cowboy. He nails the vibe and soul of the valley. I know—I am from Hanford, a city to which he devotes an entire chapter. I grew up on stories about when Tulare Lake was actually a lake. The entire valley varies between extremes of flood and drought, and throughout my lifetime, it's been drought.

I've read many books on the valley (several of which he cites) and this is among the best. It's thoughtful and deep without being preachy. I am a bit biased because it does focus on my hometown for a while, but most of all, he gets the whole psychology of the valley, for better or worse. I could feel and smell his description of the Bakersfield trailer park by a canal.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves the San Joaquin Valley.

Just as this book is hard to categorize—it is part travelogue, part history, part biography, part memoir—it is also hard to review.

I enjoyed this book and certainly learned a lot. I have a new list of places I want to visit. Gilbreath presents a great concise and easily understandable explanation of why the state can’t just build more dams to solve the agricultural water issues. If you have driven the 99, you have seen the signs. I will probably be using his explanation myself in the future.

But this book also has some glaring errors, and a giant research hole (which he discusses in chapter 7 but doesn’t really explain). I can hope these were corrected in the final, but these are not simple typos, and there were more than a couple. I went into these in my goodreads review, but will only mention two here. 1) He mentions groundhogs on the 99. Only there are no groundhogs in all of California—he must mean ground squirrels which are definitely along the 99, but there is no mistaking one for the other. 2) He calls female humans on a factory break “young girls”. Spoiler alert: male humans on break from the same factory are called “men”, not “young boys”. I noticed many odd and sloppy things like this throughout the book, which leads me to question the veracity of all. Much as he questions his subject Latta’s work after discovering he was fired from a museum job over a variety of allegations (he was exonerated).

Below are a few (somewhat) brief, $.02 opinions about books I've read or listened to recently but don't have time, inclination or opportunity to review in full. Their appearance in this recurring piece generally has little to nothing to do with merit. Many of these books I enjoyed as much or more than those that got the full court press. I hope you'll consider one or two for your own TBR stack if they strike your fancy whether they struck mine or not.

* * *
POTENTIAL VICTIMS OF PANDEMIC BRAIN


The Heart of California, by Aaron Gilbreath

Another work about a location in my home state. The Central Valley is at the core of California and its dynamics are fascinating. I recently read a non-fiction piece about a serial killer preying on low income farm workers of the Central Valley (those no one cared enough about to follow up on) and it spiked my interest in reading more. This gorgeous cover sealed the deal. I am certain this work was a victim of pandemic brain. Non-fiction, usually my sweet spot, has been difficult, and this book was highly detailed and deeply researched. I'd love to get back to it, hopefully when our world regains some normalcy (pretty please, voters?).

The author explores his passion for the San Joaquin Valley in going through a re-creation of sorts of Frank Latta's boat journey from Bakersfield to San Francisco in 1938.

To this end the book is a historical journey and a travelogue. In it we learn of Latta, his passion to preserve the stories of the San Joaquin Valley and the major changes it underwent in living memory, and see the author himself attempting to do something of the sort in his interviews of people with whom he interacts.

We learn of Latta's journey: a one-time possibility after a year of heavy rains, allowing him to follow the Kern into channels which would lead him into Tulare Lake, and from there into the Fresno Slough into the San Joaquin River all the way to San Francisco and the Pacific Ocean. Such a journey has not been able to be replicated since.

The author tells of the heritage of the land from south to north, detailing the story of the Yokuts tribe, Tulare Lake and what happened to it, the desertification of the southernmost part of the valley, the fate of some of the small towns near Fresno, the challenges of life in the valley, and the disconnect and yet interconnectedness of the valley and the two major population centers of San Francisco and Los Angeles. We learn of all kinds of colorful characters from Latta's day and our own.

It's a fun read; I appreciated learning more about the San Joaquin Valley, even though I tend to be one who drives through it heading to other destinations. It's sobering to consider just how much has changed so quickly, and to wonder how sustainable it can all prove to be.

I found this book really interesting and relevant to some of the major challenges facing society today. The author follows the trail of a 1938 boat trip through the valley made by Frank Latta, but today's journey was by car, the water is gone!
By referencing Latta's record of the 1938 trip and interviewing residents along the way he explains the enormous change to the landscape and the impact on communities past and present. The valley is a major food producer but the demand for water used in food production has made a huge impact on the environment.
I found the descriptions of local communities and the lives of local residents so interesting and also uplifting.
Well worth a read

I really enjoyed reading about the history of the California, you could tell that the author knew what he was talking about.