The King Of California: J.G. Boswell and the Making of A Secret American Empire
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.96 (786 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1586482815 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 592 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-09-19 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
He built a secret empire while thumbing his nose at nature, politicians, labor unions and every journalist who ever tried to lift the veil on the ultimate "factory in the fields." The King of California is the previously untold account of how a Georgia slave-owning family migrated to California in the early 1920s,drained one of America 's biggest lakes in an act of incredible hubris and carved out the richest cotton empire in the world. Boswell was the biggest farmer in America. DeMille to Cesar Chavez.. It is a gripping read with cameos by a cast of famous characters, from Cecil B. J.G. Indeed, the sophistication of Boswell 's agricultural operation -from lab to field to gin - is unrivaled anywhere.Much more than a business story, this is a sweeping social history that details the saga of cotton growers who were chased from the South by the boll weevil and brought their black farmhands to California
"Fascinating book" according to Eric C. Petersen. Fascinating book. Not only about the agricultural empire the Boswells built starting in the early 1920s, but the backgrounds and working conditions of those attracted to work in the Central Valley (Oakies both black and white in addition to Mexicans), how towns like Corcoran were established (and later destroyed), all made very real by the endless interviews conducted by the authors. The amount of background research required to produce this book. Donald A. Collins said Politics and Greed Dominate California Water Policies. The King, J.G.Boswell II, died in April "Politics and Greed Dominate California Water Policies" according to Donald A. Collins. The King, J.G.Boswell II, died in April 2009 but the empire he and his fore bearers built still allowed his chroniclers to drive the distance from Washington DC to Philadelphia (over 1Politics and Greed Dominate California Water Policies The King, J.G.Boswell II, died in April 2009 but the empire he and his fore bearers built still allowed his chroniclers to drive the distance from Washington DC to Philadelphia (over 135 miles) without leaving their property. The incredible reporting job done by these authors speaks to the highest traditions of that craft. Their detailed, balanced account of just how Boswell and his family acquired and maintained this vast empire of cotton and ot. 5 miles) without leaving their property. The incredible reporting job done by these authors speaks to the highest traditions of that craft. Their detailed, balanced account of just how Boswell and his family acquired and maintained this vast empire of cotton and ot. 009 but the empire he and his fore bearers built still allowed his chroniclers to drive the distance from Washington DC to Philadelphia (over 1Politics and Greed Dominate California Water Policies The King, J.G.Boswell II, died in April 2009 but the empire he and his fore bearers built still allowed his chroniclers to drive the distance from Washington DC to Philadelphia (over 135 miles) without leaving their property. The incredible reporting job done by these authors speaks to the highest traditions of that craft. Their detailed, balanced account of just how Boswell and his family acquired and maintained this vast empire of cotton and ot. 5 miles) without leaving their property. The incredible reporting job done by these authors speaks to the highest traditions of that craft. Their detailed, balanced account of just how Boswell and his family acquired and maintained this vast empire of cotton and ot. "Read It To Understand S. San Joaquin Valley Agribusiness" according to Phycologist. This region is where most of the water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta goes to feed subsidized crops we don't need, making big ag rich on taxpayer welfare. Most don't know that the L.A. basin and MWD are second fiddle. This book tells you the personal history of how and why, covering the the largest landholder in the valley who fuctionally owns your State and Federal elected officals. This book is as important to understanding California wa
Not to be defeated by nature again, the Boswells leveed and dammed Tulare Lake, the largest body of fresh water west of the Mississippi, to the point of extinction. Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker. From The New Yorker This meticulous narrative of the rise of the cotton magnate James G. Arax and Wartzman strive for evenhandedness but acknowledge the costs of Big Ag—such as evaporation ponds with selenium levels so high that ducks are born with corkscrewed beaks and no eyes, and the recurrent "hundred-year floods," stubborn attempts by the old lake to reassert itself. Boswell begins in the nineteen-twenties, when his family was driven from Georgia by boll-weevil infestations and brought its plantation ways to California's San Joaquin Valley. In its six-hundred-square-mile basin they grew cotton, while in Los Angeles office towers they built one of the country's largest agricultural operations, swallowing small farms and multimillion-dollar subsidies with equal vigor