That it was paramount for white settler colonials to believe the lie that the land they were occupying was “a blank page waiting to be inscribed,” that it was this lie that allowed America to tell the story of itself (and fifth-generation white Californians like Didion to tell the story of California)—is the lens through which all writing about the West must be scrutinized. Who is this writing for? What vision of California and the West is it upholding, and why?
