Showing posts with label Kevin Starr. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kevin Starr. Show all posts

Friday, July 9, 2010

America's greatest bridge & California's greatest historian


There are certain iconic American symbols that could never be replicated today. Yet, they powerfully represent our sense of place, our sense of shared purpose and destiny and essentially tell us where we are. One such powerful symbol is The Golden Gate Bridge. Built as a Public Works project at the depth of the depression, it has come to symbolize both the unique nature of the Bay Area and the special connection between urban and rural Northern California.

Kevin Starr, California's most celebrated historian gives us, in his new book Golden Gate: The Life and Times of America's Greatest Bridge, an up close, personal and rich history of The Bridge and its place in the California experience.

My conversation with Kevin Starr:

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Tuesday, July 7, 2009

California Dreaming

Joan Didion wrote of California, that "the dream was always teaching the dreamers how to live." Never was that California Dream more evolved than during the '50's.  It was a time when the Golden State's population doubled.  It was a time when California's Freeways, Disneyland, Water Projects and Universities were the envy of the world.  It was a time of unfettered abundance. But was it sustainable?  Arguably from what we are seeing today, maybe not.   The distinguished California historian Dr. Kevin Starr, in his eighth volume of California history,  Golden Dreams: California in an Age of Abundance, 1950-1963, looks at this dynamic period from 1950 to 1963.  

My conversation with Kevin Starr.



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