{"product_id":"the-heart-of-california-exploring-the-san-joaquin-valley-9781496218636","title":"The Heart of California: Exploring the San Joaquin Valley","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e2022 Oregon Book Award Finalist\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAaron Gilbreath uses his keen eye and environmental consciousness, historical records, and the occasional imaginative flight to give us an invaluable portrait of an overlooked place.\u003c\/b\u003e--Thomas Swick, author of \u003ci\u003eA Way to See the World\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMixing travel writing, historical recreations, western history, natural history, and first-person reportage, \u003ci\u003eThe Heart of California\u003c\/i\u003e is a road-trip narrative about this fascinating region and its most important early documentarian.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA vivid journey through California's vast rural interior, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Heart of California\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e 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. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAaron Gilbreath \u003c\/b\u003eis an essayist, a journalist, and previously a contributing editor at \u003ci\u003eLongreads\u003c\/i\u003e. He has written essays and articles for \u003ci\u003eHarper's\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eParis Review\u003c\/i\u003e, and the \u003ci\u003eDublin Review\u003c\/i\u003e and his work has been listed as notable in \u003ci\u003eBest American Essays\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBest American Travel Writing\u003c\/i\u003e. Gilbreath is the author of two essay collections, \u003ci\u003eEverything We Don't Know: Essays\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThis Is: Essays on Jazz\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bison Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50649348407570,"sku":"9781496218636","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_182d2c9c-3d7c-45d2-9f12-aae66b53cb42.jpg?v=1733261464","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-heart-of-california-exploring-the-san-joaquin-valley-9781496218636","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}