California is one of a kind. Few dispute it. But what are the facts on which this reputation rests? The Great California Story aspires to answer that question in a way not systematically undertaken before. It makes no pretentions to replacing the picture of California that traditional histories typically draw. It aspires instead to amplify and complete that picture. The book has been envisioned from the beginning as an evergreen that should read as freshly ten years from now as it does today. Much excellent research has appeared since the book’s first appearance and much of that research has found its way into this book, allowing it to make its case even more persuasively than it did originally.