On This Day in California History

by Jim Silverman

California has a rich history of cultural innovation and colorful characters. On May 26, 1853, Lola Montez premiered her famous Spider Dance routine in San Francisco. On February 21, 1937, San Diego's Waldo Waterman created one of the first operational flying cars. Emeryville's Wham-O sold the first Frisbee, earlier called a Flyin' Cake Pan, on January 13, 1957. Entrepreneurs Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne established Apple Inc. on April 1, 1976. With a historical account for each day of the year, Jim Silverman highlights the unforgettable stories that have defined California.

160 pages, Paperback

Published August 14, 2017

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

disappointed there is no index and the back cover says 365 days, the book does account for Feb 29 though.

[Carl Palm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is chock-full of interesting information about California’s colorful past. Organizing the state’s history the way it’s done here allows the author to include a lot of information that might otherwise go unnoted and tells the California story from an altogether fresh and engaging point of view. The organizing principle here might seem a bit arbitrary at first glance: a medley of people, places and events, significant or memorable in their right, of course, but profiled here because of the date on which something important about them happened. But that’s exactly its virtue. People, places and events that might otherwise go unnoticed or unremarked can be brought into the sweep of the story.

This is not the only volume available that lays out the history of California in a day-by-day, date-by-date, fashion. A similarly-inspired volume, also currently available, takes on this same subject in a totally different, but equally lively, way. Taken together, these two books cover a lot of ground about the many fascinating people, places and events that have given California its unique identity and shape and are probably best seen as complements to one another, each taking the reader down completely different paths. Silverman’s book is a fine one and well worth the time of anyone interested in the not-so-well-known aspects of California history, even by diligent and otherwise well-informed students of the state.

[Sarah Bodaly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fun book has an entry for every day of the year, with a short tidbit of California History. Rather interesting, but also tending to be repetitive. There were a few topics such as the Donner Party, a robber, and certain politicians, that were covered multiple times. Much of the history also dealt with San Francisco and Los Angeles and really well-known historical events. It would have been fun to see more history across the state.

[Ross Miletich · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fun little nothing book. In previous years, this would have made a good peel-a-day calendar.