I am just rereading it before sending it to the old soldiers and sailors' home--no wishes here. The Introduction by Lucius Beebe and Charles M. Clegg earns the high rating for this edition!
This was issued for the centennial of the discovery of gold and is an outlier in that it is so much more critical of California than most contemporary books.
It was published in 1855 as The Land of Gold which recounted Mr. Helper's journey to California and what he saw there. The chapters about the journey are dropped from this popular edition.
Opening a page at random to offer a sample paragraph:
"The Sabbath in California is kept, when kept at all, as a day of hilarity and bacchanalian sports rather than as a season of holy meditation or religious devotion. Horse-racing, cock-fighting, cony-hunting, car-playing, theatrical performances, and other elegant amusements are freely engage in on this day."
No index, so I reduced my rating by one star.
This was issued for the centennial of the discovery of gold and is an outlier in that it is so much more critical of California than most contemporary books.
It was published in 1855 as The Land of Gold which recounted Mr. Helper's journey to California and what he saw there. The chapters about the journey are dropped from this popular edition.
Opening a page at random to offer a sample paragraph:
"The Sabbath in California is kept, when kept at all, as a day of hilarity and bacchanalian sports rather than as a season of holy meditation or religious devotion. Horse-racing, cock-fighting, cony-hunting, car-playing, theatrical performances, and other elegant amusements are freely engage in on this day."
No index, so I reduced my rating by one star.
