Crossing California: A Cultural Topography of a Land of Wonder and Weirdness
Sam McManis
(Author)
Description
Sacramento Bee journalist Sam McManis spent five years on the road trying to find the real California. He discovered that there is more than one California, but every different California is equally weird and wonderful. Worlds collide and commingle: the neo-hippies with the rednecked farmers; the urban sophisticates with the quirky desert dwellers; the Hollywood power brokers with the outsider artists. Brought together in a bouillabaisse of voices, Crossing California will make you see the state in an entirely new light. From the briny scent of Fisherman's Wharf to the fragrant sage scrub of Imperial County; from the otherworldly starkness of Death Valley to the crashing waves and flexing muscles at Venice Beach, Crossing California gives readers a first-hand experience. McManis has stalked the tony aisles of the newly minted Broad Museum in gentrified downtown Los Angeles, and quick-footed it through the International Banana Museum along the desiccated shores of the moonscaped Salton Sea. He has inadvertently gotten his car stuck in a tree at a cheesy drive-thru giant Sequoia roadside attraction along the hemp highway between Mendocino and Humboldt, and witnessed, with both fascination and can't-look-away horror, grown men and women, sans children and sans inhibitions, belt out full-throated versions of "Let It Go" at a Disneyland sing-along. All told, Crossing California is a trip. (Color photographs),
Product Details
Price
$14.95
$13.90
Publisher
Craven Street Books
Publish Date
February 01, 2018
Pages
296
Dimensions
6.0 X 8.9 X 0.6 inches | 0.9 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9781610353137
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Sam McManis is a former columnist and feature writer for the Sacramento Bee. He is a four-time winner of the Society of Features Journalism awards and three-time Best of the West honoree. He also has been a staff writer and editor at the San Francisco Chronicle and a sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times. His profiles and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and elsewhere.
Reviews
"Enjoy this quirky trip through California -- a place that the passionate, the individualistic, and the outright weird can all call home."-- "Foreword Reviews"
"A thoroughly readable collection of craziness ... McManis seeks out the 'loose things' in the desert and hills and streets of California and explores them with a facile intelligence and general good humor. I liked this book!"-- "Richard Frisbie, TravelingBoy.com"
"Crossing California: A Cultural Topography of a State of Wonder and Weirdness captures the funky, strange and oddball characters and places in virtually all corners of the nation's most populous state."-- "Los Angeles Weekly"
"Sam McManis's writing is so good that most readers will agree -- this book is hard to put down. Yet to savor his book, reading it a few sections at a time will prolong the reading pleasure. McManis speaks directly to the reader in an easy, pleasant, conversational style. Even the introduction is a delight to read."-- "George Erdosh, San Francisco Book Review"
"If you want to have fun reading about the less publicized side of California, I strongly recommend Crossing California. The great travel writers are able to bring a unique perception to what we all observe -- and Sam McManis exhibits this skill in every story."-- "Randy Shaw, BeyondChron.org"
"Crossing California is an inherently fascinating and appreciatively informative reader from cover to cover."-- "Reviewer's Bookwatch"
"Blends humor, culture, and history in a lively survey of California."-- "Midwest Book Review"
Crossing California "meanders from broiling desert to shining sea, from traffic-clogged metropolis to wind-swept Sierra. In a (semi-)trusty white Hyundai hybrid, McManis traversed the entire 796.4 miles from Oregon to Mexico with many, many side trips in between....Imagine Huell Howser minus the golly and with a far more sophisticated sense of humor, seeking out the oddball destinations less visited." Sacramento Bee-- "Sacramento Bee"
"A thoroughly readable collection of craziness ... McManis seeks out the 'loose things' in the desert and hills and streets of California and explores them with a facile intelligence and general good humor. I liked this book!"-- "Richard Frisbie, TravelingBoy.com"
"Crossing California: A Cultural Topography of a State of Wonder and Weirdness captures the funky, strange and oddball characters and places in virtually all corners of the nation's most populous state."-- "Los Angeles Weekly"
"Sam McManis's writing is so good that most readers will agree -- this book is hard to put down. Yet to savor his book, reading it a few sections at a time will prolong the reading pleasure. McManis speaks directly to the reader in an easy, pleasant, conversational style. Even the introduction is a delight to read."-- "George Erdosh, San Francisco Book Review"
"If you want to have fun reading about the less publicized side of California, I strongly recommend Crossing California. The great travel writers are able to bring a unique perception to what we all observe -- and Sam McManis exhibits this skill in every story."-- "Randy Shaw, BeyondChron.org"
"Crossing California is an inherently fascinating and appreciatively informative reader from cover to cover."-- "Reviewer's Bookwatch"
"Blends humor, culture, and history in a lively survey of California."-- "Midwest Book Review"
Crossing California "meanders from broiling desert to shining sea, from traffic-clogged metropolis to wind-swept Sierra. In a (semi-)trusty white Hyundai hybrid, McManis traversed the entire 796.4 miles from Oregon to Mexico with many, many side trips in between....Imagine Huell Howser minus the golly and with a far more sophisticated sense of humor, seeking out the oddball destinations less visited." Sacramento Bee-- "Sacramento Bee"
