Like giant sentinels standing guard, California's lighthouses keep silent vigils over the turbulent waters of the Pacific. In 1850, Congress appropriated funds to build eight lighthouses on the West Coast, and three years later, construction began on the project. The first lighthouse to become operational on the West Coast was that on Alcatraz Island on June 1, 1854. While the other seven were being completed, Congress authorized funds to construct a second set of eight lighthouses, and by 1930, California boasted 40 light stations. This new photographic history contains over 200 rare and beautiful images featuring lighthouses of the South Coast, San Francisco Bay, and the North Coast, as well as lightships and support facilities.

Alive with the exuberance, contradictions, and variety of the Golden State, this Depression-era guide to California is more than 700 pages of information that is, as David Kipen writes in his spirited introduction, "anecdotal, opinionated, and altogether habit-forming." Describing the history, culture, and roadside attractions of the 1930s, the WPA Guide to California features some of the very best anonymous literature of its era, with writing by luminaries such as San Francisco poet Kenneth Rexroth, composer-writer- hobo Harry Partch, and authors Tillie Olsen and Kenneth Patchen.

"The goal of The Changing California Coast is to provide perspective on the realities of living on the California coast, its challenges and issues, and the nitty gritty of what to consider before buying or building a house. The book achieves this aim by providing a tutorial on the potential hazards of coastal living, and systematically covering the coast from border to border. A must read for anyone whose idea of the coast is based on too many episodes of Baywatch."--Paul D. Komar, author of Beach Processes and Sedimentation "California's coast is a living landscape endlessly besieged by waves and tides, upland erosion, seismic forces, and human efforts to secure land's edge in place. A geography of awesome beauty and constant conflict, the coast is where people want to be. Living with the Changing California Coast is a must read for property owners, developers, investors, public officials, and activists who care about our coast's future. This book lays out the consequences of our tendency to wall up the coast and what we might do to reverse the trend. A most thorough, alarming and compelling tale of what is happening to our shoreline. Will policy makers listen?"--Peter Douglas, Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission

Before he had turned twenty years old, Jake Harlan had met the Donners before their disastrous journey, served under John C. Fremont (the Pathfinder) in California, owned a livery stable in San Francisco, opened a store to sell equipment to miners for the '49 Gold Rush, hit paydirt in the gold fields, and become a father. Before he turned twenty! That was just the beginning of Jake Harlan's life. Though he apologizes for offering this book as a "non-lettered man," we should be grateful that he wrote it. His story is the story of the early wild west and of California. It is exciting, well-written, colloquial, sad, and funny. On a return trip to California from the east, he saw Abraham Lincoln speak in the Illinois senate before Lincoln was known to the nation. On finding his mate for life, he writes: "Boy-like, I had fallen dead in love with one or both of those two Fowler girls. For a good while I didn't exactly know what was the matter with me. Just as General Grant says in his book, that when he was in the same fix, he by and by found out what was the matter with him, when he fell in love; so by and by I found out what was the matter with me, and I simplified my case by centering my affection upon one of them." For the first time, this long out-of-print volume is available as an affordable, well-formatted book for e-readers and smartphones. Be sure to LOOK INSIDE by clicking the cover above or download a sample.