American California

The westward movement of Americans in the 19th century was one of the largest and most consequential migrations in history, and among the paths that blazed west, the California Trail was one of the most well-known. The trail was not a single road but a network of paths that began at several “jumping off” points.

“Gross is a top-notch thriller writer.” —Chicago Sun-Times “Andrew Gross knows how to make your skin crawl. Eyes Wide Open should be read with the door shut and the lights on; a truly terrifying descent into evil.” —Nelson DeMille New York Times bestselling author Andrew Gross...

For most Americans in the 19th century, it wasn't what you ate, but how much you ate, that mattered. Late in the century, doctors wrote books like How To Be Plumb and the voluptuous woman was the ideal. The famed actress Lillian Russell, considered by many the epitome of beauty, weighed almost 200 pounds. Today, in contrast, Americans seem obsessed with calories, diets and slimness, and with eating healthful amounts of vitamins, minerals, fats, and proteins. What sparked this remarkable revolution in the way we eat.

Visionary. Iconoclast. Political Survivor. "A powerful and entertaining look" (Governor Gavin Newsom) at the extraordinary life and political career of Governor Jerry Brown. Jerry Brown is no ordinary politician. Like his state, he is eclectic, brilliant, unpredictable and sometimes weird. And...

Fifteen-year-old orphan Ana Cortez has just blown her last chance with a foster family. It's a group home next - unless she agrees to leave East Los Angeles for a farm trainee program in Northern California. When she first arrives, Ana can't tell a tomato plant from a blackberry bush, and Emmett Garber is skeptical that this slight city girl can be any help on his farm. His sister, Abbie, however, thinks Ana might be just what they need.

A landmark modern classic about the Korean American immigrant experience and the dawn of Los Angeles’s Koreatown A Penguin Classic Kim Ronyoung (Gloria Hahn, 1926–1987) tells the story of Haesu and Chun, immigrants who fled Japanese-occupied Korea for Los Angeles in the decade prior to...

Since his release from prison after serving an eighteen-month sentence for growing cannabis, Ben Hecht's life has settled into a familiar routine. On his farm in the foothills of California, he stays busy cultivating a dozen acres of grapes and tending to a flock of mistrustful sheep. Meanwhile, from her desk in their old redwood barn, his novelist wife, Ada, continues to work on what may be her most important book yet.

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2015 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2015 BY THE WASHINGTON POST, TIME, MEN’S JOURNAL, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, KANSAS CITY STAR, BROOKLYN MAGAZINE, NPR, HUFFINGTON POST, THE DAILY BEAST, AND BUZZFEED WINNER OF THE 2015 ERNEST J. GAINES AWARD FOR LITERARY...

Read by the author. Discover a fascinating and novel look at the U.S. presidents, the first families, and American history—all through the lens of hair. With meticulous detail and engaging storytelling, encyclopedia editor Theodore Pappas combs through American history, teasing out...

“Tender, immersive, and thrilling." —Gabrielle Zevin "One of the best novels I’ve ever read about friendship.” —Stephen King "I can't remember the last time I cared about fictional characters as desperately as I came to care about the beautiful, hilarious and courageous teenage...

From the author of the number-one international bestseller The History of Bees, a captivating story of the power of nature and the human spirit that explores the threat of a devastating worldwide drought, witnessed through the lives of a father, a daughter, and a woman who will risk her life to...

When school sweethearts reunite in an unexpectedly bumpy quest for the smoothest spirit, they’ll prove that nothing pairs better with tacos than tequila. San Diego-based model and influencer Jaime Montez isn’t the heir—or even the spare—to his family’s Taco King fast-food empire. So...

Most California histories begin with the arrival of the Spanish missionaries in the late 18th century and conveniently skip to the Gold Rush of 1849. Noticeably absent from these stories are the perspectives and experiences of the people who lived on the land long before European settlers arrived. Historian William Bauer seeks to correct that oversight through an innovative approach that tells California history strictly through Native perspectives.

A powerful coming-of-age novel about a twenty-something Black musician living in predominantly white Portland, Oregon, playing in a rock band on the verge of success while struggling with racism, romance, and the legacy of his strict religious upbringing. Julian Strickland is seemingly the lone...

The sensational, forgotten true story of a woman who murdered her married lover in Gilded Age San Francisco and the trial that epitomized the city's transformation from raucous frontier town into modern metropolis—from the New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Sin Shortly before dusk...

From the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, this “touching and emotionally satisfying” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) novel follows two Cuban teens in LA’s Echo Park neighborhood who clash over their visions for the...

A fascinating new history of America, told through the stories of a diverse cast of ten extraordinary—and often overlooked—adventurers, from Sacagawea to Matthew Henson to Sally Ride, who pushed the boundaries of discovery and determined our national destiny. ""Brilliantly imaginative...

Tan Lee finds himself embroiled in an unusual love triangle, all while trying to defuse a heist, unravel a conspiracy, and navigate the most complicated babysitting assignment ever in this YA novel by New York Times and Indie bestselling author Abigail Hing Wen. After a magical kiss at Prom...

Vinh Doan has a problem. Ten million of them, in fact. He’s a high-level fixer for global conglomerates, which means big money…and big troubles. When ten million dollars go missing from one of his accounts, he needs a top-notch hacker to find it. His first thought? Emily MacDonald, his high school ex. While Vinh has been taking the financial world by storm, Emily has been struggling. After her dad died, she dropped out of college and put her dreams aside. Her job in tech support has seriously tested her sunny disposition and her finances.

Most Anticipated YA by Buzzfeed A fresh spin on the cult-classic Election meets Darius the Great Is Not Okay in Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win when an international incident crashes into a high school election, and Jasmine is caught between doing the right thing and chasing her dream. It’s 1979...