A witty, expansive narrative that reveals the real story of the people and places that makes up the Golden State. From the European conquest to today's economic crisis, Californians have experienced tumultuous growth and painful conflicts. Like the grinding of tectonic plates that has produced the state's very landscape, these encounters, disputes, and transformations have continuously made and remade California. California: On-the-Road History doesn't relate the cleaned-up tale of the California dream that school textbooks and the tourism commission tell. Rather it presents the sometimes bitter, sometimes triumphant history behind the California myth. Included are recommended museums, state parks, and other attractions, alongside literary excerpts from local authors who give readers a sense of California in different eras.