"In this collection of linked stories, Barry Kitterman brings the dusty, fertile San Joaquin Valley vividly to life--a land of orange groves and religious revivals, where the mountains rise high on either side, marking the limits of the characters' lives. Kitterman writes with a plainspoken grace, showing men and women who face poverty, disappointment, and loneliness with a quiet daily courage and goodwill."--Heidi Jon Schmidt, author of The House on Oyster Creek "Barry Kitterman has outwritten Sherwood Anderson, leaped past Winesburg to baking, shrouded, razory Ivanhoe, in California's lower central valley. Its people--sad, sweet, grotesque, flint-eyed--yearn and misstep with desperate dignity. Kitterman's sentences are stunning as the silence that follows a scream."--Bryan Di Salvatore, author of A Clever Base-Ballist "Dust and fog, Manzanita, redwoods and rabbit farms, the snow-capped peaks of the Sierra, which are occasionally visible on those rare days when the air isn't too filthy--these are palpable presences in Kitterman's stories. The San Joaquin Valley, especially the town of Ivanhoe, is rendered with the kind of attention that only comes from love. Nobody who knows the Valley will ever question the author's sense of place. Those who don't know the Valley will feel like they do after reading this book. These are sturdy, no-nonsense, character-driven stories that make turning the pages a necessity as well as a pleasure. Kitterman's book is superb."--Steve Yarbrough, author of Safe from the Neighbors

A timely new edition of a pioneering work in Latino literature, National Book Award nominee Gary Soto's first collection (originally published in 1977) draws on California's fertile San Joaquin Valley, the people, the place, and the hard agricultural work done there by immigrants. In these poems, joy and anger, violence and hope are placed in both the metaphorical and very real circumstances of the Valley. Rooted in personal experiences—of the poet as a young man, his friends, family, and neighbors—the poems are spare but expansive, with Soto's voice as important as ever. This welcome new edition has been expanded with a crucial selection of complementary poems (some previously unpublished) and a new introduction by the author.

As the world population grows, so does the demand for food, putting unprecedented pressure on agricultural lands. In many desert dryland regions, however, intensive cultivation is causing their productivity to decline precipitously. "Rewilding" the least productive of these landscapes offers a sensible way to reverse the damage, recover natural diversity, and ensure long-term sustainability of remaining farms and the communities they support. This accessibly written, groundbreaking contributed volume is the first to examine in detail what it would take to retire eligible farmland and restore functioning natural ecosystems. The lessons in Rewilding Agricultural Landscapes will be useful to conservation leaders, policymakers, groundwater agencies, and water managers looking for inspiration and practical advice for solving the complicated issues of agricultural sustainability and water management.

2022 Oregon Book Award Finalist A vivid journey through California's vast rural interior, The Heart of California weaves the story of historian Frank Latta's forgotten 1938 boat trip from Bakersfield to San Francisco with Aaron Gilbreath's trip retracing Latta's route by car during the 2014 drought. Latta embarked on his journey to publicize the need for dams and levees to improve flood control. Gilbreath made his own trip to profile Latta and the productive agricultural world that damming has created in the San Joaquin Valley, to describe the region's nearly lost indigenous culture and ecosystems, and to bring this complex yet largely ignored landscape to life. The Valley is home to some of California's fastest growing cities and, by some estimates, produces 25 percent of America's food. The Valley feeds too many people, and is too unique, to be ignored. To understand California, you have to understand the Valley. Mixing travel writing, historical recreations, western history, natural history, and first-person reportage, The Heart of California is a road-trip narrative about this fascinating region and its most important early documentarian.

Paolo calls Rufus "a Mack truck with no one driving." Rufus is the O'Neil family dog, and he shows up one morning with part of a twenty-dollar bill in his teeth. Twelve-year-old Paolo figures that there must be more where that bill came from, and since his cousin Billy needs to repair a bent wheel on his bike, there's a reason for looking. Soon Paolo, his brother Georgie, and Billy end up in the monsignor's garden behind the Cathedral of San Joaquin, but it's not exactly treasure they find, it's a hand that shoots out of the undergrowth to grab Paolo's neck. The search for the stash leads the boys -- sometimes scared spitless -- on many a byway around Orange Grove City, California, in the summer of 1951. And onto the byway of conscience.

An ecosystem in freefall, a shrinking water supply for cities and agriculture, an antiquated network of failure-prone levees—this is the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the major hub of California's water system. Written by a team of independent water experts, this analysis of the latest data evaluates proposed solutions to the Delta's myriad problems. Through in-depth economic and ecological analysis, the authors find that the current policy of channeling water exports through the Delta is not sustainable for any interest. Employing a peripheral canal-conveying water around the Delta instead of through it—as part of a larger habitat and water management plan appears to be the best strategy to maintain both a high-quality water supply and at the same time improve conditions for native fish and wildlife. This important assessment includes integrated analysis of long term ecosystem and water management options and demonstrates how issues such as climate change and sustainability will shape the future. Published in cooperation with the Public Policy Institute of California

This novel, set among the mestizo Spanish communities of rural Belize, gives a sympathetic and moving portrait of peasant life.

Two California Central Valley natives and former farmers have produced this vibrant book of poetry and art about the San Joaquin Valley they love, where they learned to accept both the bounties and the hazards of the changing seasons. Nels Hanson has received numerous awards for his writing, and Rees Nielsen's painting, poetry and fiction have been widely published in literary magazines.

Hitch a ride with Captain Bill Behrns in his P-38 Lightning fighter through hair-raising adventures including flying at an altitude of 50 feet over the Southwest desert, patrolling the Northwest coast during the potential Japanese invasion, and dogfights over the jungles of the CBI during WWII. The San Joaquin Siren is the true-life adventure of a determined young man who decided he was going to become a P-38 pilot. With the odds stacked against him from birth, Bill used his grit, drive, and quick mind to make his dream become a reality. Bill's story goes far beyond the tale of a pilot and his place in the history of WWII. The authors lead the reader on a first-hand adventure through the sometimes unorthodox escapades of Bill's flight-training experience through his travels to exotic locations in Southeast Asia with unforgettable descriptions of people and places halfway around the world. Told in an engaging style by authors William Behrns with Kenneth Moore, The San Joaquin Siren is a compelling read for those interested in being fully entertained by travel adventures, WWII history, and the strength of this American's spirit and will.