California Western

Acclaimed author, historian, and Guggenheim Fellow Kevin Starr is a professor at the University of Southern California. His extensive knowledge shines through this concise, yet comprehensive, depiction of the most fascinating aspects in California's history. From its colonial beginnings through Governor Schwarzenegger's administration, the Golden State has become a uniquely American phenomenon that has enchanted people with the possibility of a better life.

Captain Sean Mulkerin comes home from the sea to find his family home in jeopardy. After the death of his father, Sean’s determined mother, Eileen, took it upon herself to run the sprawling Rancho Malibu—until a fire destroyed her hard-earned profits. Now, on the edge of financial ruin...

A recent finishing school graduate, 18-year-old Garnet Cameron is desperate for direction. Too driven for the restrictive manners of the upper class, Garnet is naturally drawn to Oliver Hale, a frontier trader from the West. Unlike the men to whom she's accustomed, Oliver treats Garnet as an equal and respects her independence. His tales of adventure on the plains thrill her. And his proposal of marriage is accepted. Then Garnet discovers how ill-prepared she is for the punishing landscape of the Jubilee Trail and the even harsher realities of human nature.

Christina Swan, the local schoolteacher, is fired when two overzealous suitors brawl at her school. Angry at the unfair treatment, she seizes the opportunity to manage a fledgling ranch for her uncle and runs into the obstinate Kern Yager, a neighboring landholder. As tempers flare between them, the two discover a common enemy in a land development plan that will swallow their ranches. They also discover the faith to meet their problems with God's support.

Gold fever. It swept the country from coast to coast, luring more than a hundred thousand seekers to the untamed territory of California. For them, the Gold Rush of 1848 represented the American Dream come true. But for the settlers who lived there, it was an all-out assault on the homes they'd struggled so hard to build. Now boomtowns arise overnight, teeming with outlaws, killers, and desperate men. In Sacramento Valley, former Texas Ranger Rick Miller struggles to keep the peace with nothing more than a six shooter and guts.

Broken and betrayed, Fox Bridges escaped Blackrock Falls sixteen years ago, vowing never to return. But when his mom is diagnosed with terminal cancer, there's no escaping it. Making the best of a bad situation, he goes back to face his past and set up a program to help foster kids who age out of the system like him. But more importantly—to reunite with the best friend he had to leave behind. Melody Wilde never got over the loss of her childhood best friend. She saved his life . . . but it cost her Fox. He left town and never looked back, hating her for revealing his secret.

Her sister gone, her roommates soon to follow, Leora Mitchell must now face the fact that she, along with the others, are mail-order brides. For years, her life revolved around Brown’s Textile Mill, her sister Lottie, and their friends. Now, as mail-order brides, they’d be scattered across the country, ready to start a new life. The only problem was Leora had no idea what that life looked like, nor did she have any idea who she was without the familiar faces she loved so much.

Will Cannon rides the rails to the California wine country looking for the Blackman Gang. He starts buying and shipping horses, but the outlaw boss, Ricardo, doesn't want anyone getting in his way, and the battle lines are drawn. Will gets some help from some young cowboys and a band of Modoc Indians to fight the outlaws.

Working as the personal assistant to one of Hollywood's cruelest divas has left Amanda Queen more determined than ever to sell her screenplay and gain her independence. In the meantime, she'll settle for a temporary escape. When her employer is felled by the flu on Hollywood's biggest night of the year, Amanda gets her glam on, struts out the door, and parties with the glitterati. But she never expects to come face to face - and closer than close - with one of the hottest stars in the game....

This program features multicast narration. “I read everything Ivy Pochoda writes. Her capture of the complexities, diversities, and insanities of today’s life and culture is next to none. I loved Sing Her Down. The world will too.” —Michael Connelly, author of Desert Star No Country for...

Julia has hopes to meet her true love by responding to a Mail Order Bride advertisement from the west. On the way, Julia is stricken with a severe illness and is scared for her life. She also fears that she will not have a chance to get to know the man that God has led her to. Will she recover? Will the cowboy and his hopeful bride have a chance to know their true love?

Ranch owner Jesse Pleasant always felt too big for his desert town and too brutish to fit in with his charming, cowboy brothers. After his temper gets the best of him one time too many, he's ready to accept the truth: He's cursed to be alone. But when the Senate selection committee comes looking for a man of his public standing, he knows this might be his chance to prove to his family and friends that he can keep his cool, all while giving back to his community. There's only one problem. While Jesse definitely has a mind for business, his people skills are more than lacking.

With a headline spot on a hit morning show and truly mouth-watering culinary skills, chef Evie Buchanan is perched on the edge of stardom. But at an industry party, a fall lands Evie in the hospital - with no memory of who she is. Scrambling to help, Evie's assistant contacts the only "family" Evie has left, close friends who run the luxury dude ranch in California where Evie grew up. Evie has no recollection of them - until former rodeo champion Zach Pleasant walks into her hospital room, and she realizes his handsome face has been haunting her dreams....

Martina Swan's business and marriage is falling apart. She grabs up her child and seeks to find her husband as armed outlaws chase her looking for their stolen treasure. She's determined to bring her man home as she faces one shock after another. Can she forgive and love again? A full and satisfying read from a woman's point of view in the old west.

The first book in a new series by the author of the Heroines of the Golden West series. Alena is a confident entrepreneur in a man's world who meets a rancher with a tragic secret in his past. They're both about to find their inner peace, their calling, and romance in Old California.

An extraordinary saga of the trail-blazing cowboys who made their fortune driving cattle from Texas to the Great Frontier. Across the Pecos, the Rio Colorado and La Panza mountains, the Texans and their longhorns kept charging-all the way to California gold! Between The Bandera Range And...

Asphalt was his home as Jensen Grimes tallied miles on his Indian motorcycle to escape from a dangerous life that was too much to bear. Never in his wildest dreams had he fathomed the motorcycle club, Chrome Poppies, would turn into a bloodbath. He was running from them and running from the law, after the body count escalated to exorbitant levels. When Jensen makes it to a small mountain town in central California, he thought he was in the clear until a precocious young girl, Emilie Dillon, begging for money appears in his life.

Mail Order Bride: Sent by God to the California Cowboy is about a young woman in New York City who has fallen onto hard times after being released from the orphanage she had been in for a majority of her life. Two kind women take her into a halfway house, but there is reason for her to leave New York immediately. The only way the women feel they can keep her safe is to ship her off to California where their nephew, they tell her, needs a good housekeeper and cook for his ranch.

Lydia Collins and her Aunt May run a successful boarding house in New York City. One fateful August morning, Lydia reads about the discovery of gold in California. Her aunt believes that this is the perfect business opportunity for an enterprising young woman to take advantage of gold miners to the area and open up a new boarding house, but Lydia's not so sure.

Our Wagon Train Heading For Greener Pastures Along The Oregon Trail: Finally Home In California, is the emotional ending to Anna and Mark's story, told after they have settled in California and staked their claim to a homestead. There are still many hurdles and tragedies to overcome, but under God's loving care they manage to survive them and along with their extended family, put forward and live their beliefs and Christian values to everyone in the thriving town they have helped to create, amidst the Gold Rush era in the West.