Neal Harlow (1908–2000)

Very in depth coverage of what is in reality a small, small piece of time. The Broad contours of the story, and even the names of some of the key players were known to me from back in my 5th grade State history class--but, even back in the 80s there was squeamishness about how California became part of the US, and we skipped quickly from the confusing tales of noble (and maybe abusive) missions, to the gold rush and minor role of the State in the US Civil war.

Although not central to the book, the author has repeated references to the assertion that the Mexican-American war was the final act in a deliberate ploy to seize the northern territories of Mexico (one of my key take-aways is to learn more about that war). In this day of endless war, occupation and “nation-building” its interesting to see how the US approached the later two in the context of seizing and absorbing a new state. Another fascinating tidbit came at the end of the book during the discussion of the constitutional convention, and the setting of the State’s eastern border. This was far more arbitrary than I ever thought—and at least as presented here, was based more on potential future division of the state than just about anything else.

(2016 Review #12)… (mehr)