Though not yet a state, California is now a U.S. possession. The old Dons possess vast tracts of land, but how good is their claim to this land? Enter California in transition, experience insight into the lives of the Spaniards of California and the irreparable gulf between the cultures, and prepare for some surprising twists in one of Bower's deepest novels.

"Explore the Gold Rush from the perspective of William Miller and Henry Garrison, two miners in the Sierra Nevada region, and uncover the often unrelenting conditions of the California gold mines. A story of community, determination, and the search for the American Dream, this graphic novel invites readers to immerse themselves into what life was really like during this pivotal period in American history--brought to life by a gripping narrative and...

While her father mines for gold in 1848 San Francisco, Tory embarks on a search for her kidnapped brother among Rotten Row's hundreds of abandoned ships.

"Nothing set the world in motion like gold. Gold rushes accelerated the global circulation of people, goods, capital, and technologies that transformed settler societies around the world. Yet, they are rarely considered in a global perspective. While in the past national histories have emphasized the role of gold rushes as accelerants of state formation, crucibles of national character, and watersheds of political development, the essays in Gold Rush...