The Great Central Valley: California's Heartland

by Stephen Johnson, Gerald Haslam, Robert Dawson

This marvelously evocative book by Stephen Johnson, Gerald Haslam, and Robert Dawson―all natives of the Great Central Valley of California―is the first to explore in detail the rich natural and social history of the state's agricultural heartland.

Gerald Haslam's text celebrates the tenacious people of the Valley, where hard work and ingenuity are the means to both survival and success. This is land that gives little but yields, under pressure, to creative experiments with unusual crops. Stephen Johnson's and Robert Dawson's stunning photographs reveal the immense beauty of the region as well as the delicate relationship between the land and the people who work it.

The Central Valley is California's economic hub as well as its physical center. A plain some 430 miles long and up to 75 miles wide, surrounded by mountains and covering nearly fifteen million acres―about the size of England―this valley has become the richest farming region in the world. More than 25 percent of the table food produced in the U.S. is grown here. Its southernmost county, Kern, produces more oil than some OPEC countries.

The Valley is as rich in people as it is in resources. Tagalog, Hmong, Spanish, English, Cantonese, Russian, Italian―all are spoken here. The population of farm laborers, small family farms, powerful agribusinesses, and, increasingly, urban professionals make the region's economic disparities as palpable as its cultural diversity.

The Valley has also produced a wealth of writers―Maxine Hong Kingston from Stockton, Richard Rodriguez and Joan Didion from Sacramento, Gary Soto from Fresno, among others―as well as the award-winning El Teatro Campesino (The Farmworkers' Theater).

But the Valley is imperiled. The past 150 years of massive agricultural expansion and population growth have systematically destroyed much of the area's original wildlife, and the "plain of majestic oaks" seen by early travelers has vanished. The region is also plagued by a host of critical chemical pollution, soil erosion, water politics, the treatment of minorities, economic inequities, farm foreclosures. Johnson's and Dawson's photographs―which are complemented by engravings by Thomas Moran, paintings by Albert Bierstadt and William Hahn, and photographs by Carleton Watkins, Dorothea Lange, and Russell Lee, among others―bring home to us, as only visual images can, that it is up to us to safeguard the future of this endangered valley, to conserve its extraordinary human and natural wealth, and to try to reclaim some of its lost grandeur.

Genres: Nonfiction

264 pages, Paperback

First published June 16, 1993

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Janet Ilacqua]

I was born in the Central Valley of California; so, this photographic essay on the Central Valley of California is of great personal interest to me. It is a comprehensive account of the Central Valley's history, culture and geography including the delta, the Sacramento valley, the San Joaquin plain and Tulare basin. This book asks the question: is the water, wealth and contentment promised by the early pioneers still there or is it an empty promise on the Modesto city arch?

What stands out in this book is the variety of illustrations both in format and subject matter. There are black and white photos of buildings, rivers, agricultural machinery and natural scenery, lithographs and paintings, reproductions of old fruit crate labels, maps and aerials. Example of outstanding illustrations include the cover photo of cattle in Merced, dredge and tailings in Yuba County. The book is well documented with a numbered exhibit inventory, index and extensive bibliography.

I think that this is the best book on the Central Valley. I would recommend it to enthusiasts of regional photography and to anyone interested in the history and current issues of California.

[John]

While my expectation was that this would be a pictorial, it's actually by UC Press and it elucidates many lesser known facts and concepts present in the central valley. While I came to this book via a tangent; reading about the Delta towns, it brought to light a lot of interesting things about what many consider California's blankest landscape. Beyond that, the short chapter on the Delta was pretty good too.

[CF]

Stunning photos. Interesting coverage.

[Jane]

Wonderful picture book of geography, sociology economics natural history---everything really about the CA central valley. I know lots of pieces of this, but this book tied them all together well. Glad I read it. Great photos too,

[Yaaresse]

Beautifully produced and well-written, this book ties together geography, sociology, culture and history of the California Central Valley region.

[CFAITC]

This photographic journal and accompanying text depicts California's heartland, the Great Central Valley.

[Kaleb Horton]

Beautiful pictures. Words by Haslam.