The World Rushed In: The California Gold Rush Experience - Softcover

J. S. Holliday (author)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 080613464X ISBN 13: 9780806134642

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002

Synopsis

Cutting-edge fiction that breathes life into unlikely charactersIn these unforgettable stories, William Luvaas depicts the struggles of everyday people facing situations far from the ordinary. Through tales set largely in Southern California’s Inland Empire, Luvaas weaves magic and absurdity around characters caught between apocalypse and heartbreak. Deftly spinning haunting plots, he conveys the joys and misfortunes of folks who confront trauma or loss and find unexpected opportunities for survival.Here is nature run amok: A tornado whirls away a man’s wife and daughter, but they return midway into his ensuing romantic affair. Flood survivors in California’s coastal range build makeshift arks in anticipation of the world’s watery end. Other stories fathom relationships, as a diabetic’s suicide in the title story renews a cycle of unrequited love, or aging twins reconcile with the loss of their childhood intimacy. All come to grips with contemporary problems: poverty, disease, or powerlessness in the face of economic inequality, religious fanaticism, and corporate greed.Whether writing from the point of view of a semiliterate handyman or an elderly woman facing death on a cold night, Luvaas delivers stories, characters, and voices that are the stuff of cutting-edge fiction. A Working Man’s Apocrypha is masterful storytelling that will leave readers breathless.

About this title

About the Author

J. S. Holliday is former Executive Director of the California Historical Society and of the Oakland Museum of California and Associate Professor of History at California State University at San Francisco, he is also the author of rush for Riches: Gold Fever & the Making of California.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 080613464X
• ISBN 13: 9780806134642
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 580