The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War

Richards doesn’t actually write anything about the Civil War. The book is about bills in Congress, laws in states, political influence, California becoming a state, and the legality of slavery. He falls into the standard nonfiction trap: constantly flitting from one name to the next, with no end in......more

In the interest of time, and because his assessment matches mine, I've plagerized Stuart's 5/12/08 review of this book. As he wrote: "An interesting subject - how California nearly became a slave state, or was nearly severed into two states, one free and one slave. Some nice detail about the infamou......more

An eye-opening read. I was expecting stories of miners and frontiersmen, but instead was treated to an indepth look at the political machinations around California's bid for statehood. Most interesting (and troubling) was how large a part the question of whether or not CA would be a slave state or f......more

The Gold Rush was the catalyst for the population boom in California, and really defined the cultural and economic character of the state. But nationally, the state’s entry into the Union had a tremendous impact on the political climate of the entire country. This book provides a really nice context......more

This is a tremendous book of California history. I had no idea that California played a part in the Civil War, and I grew up here. They never taught us this in school. All history buffs should read this book.......more