California Fault: Searching for the Spirit of a State Along the San Andreas"DELIGHTFULLY ECLECTIC . . . Move over, Alexis de Tocqueville. When Thurston Clarke makes the UFO-earthquake connection halfway through Fault, he elevates himself to the first rank of America's social observers." --Los Angeles Times California has always symbolized the good life, but social problems and natural disasters have tarnished the image of the Golden State. To find out what happened to the California Dream, Clarke sets off on a remarkable journey down the San Andreas fault searching for earthquakes and good news. From the "sensitive" whose headaches predict earthquakes with uncanny precision to a determined dreamer at the Salton Sea who hopes someday to build a blue-collar resort along the abandoned shores, Clarke introduces us to a memorable cast of eccentrics, asking each the provocative question: What is it like living in a place that--no matter how beautiful--might suddenly, while you opened the cereal, combed your hair, or bathed the baby, strike you dead? "VIVID AND CONTINUALLY SURPRISING . . . The author has an unerring ability to search out exactly the right despoiler, utopian, or local eccentric to illuminate the history and character of each stop along the way." --The New Yorker |
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CALIFORNIA FAULT: Searching for the Spirit of a State Along the San Andreas
User Review - KirkusIn this thoroughly entertaining travel narrative, Clarke (Pearl Harbor Ghosts: A Journey to Hawaii Then and Now, 1991, etc.) takes the measure of the San Andreas fault, that 750-mile scar running head ... Read full review
Contents
Fandango Pass | 3 |
The Shadowy Scar | 12 |
TRIPLE JUNCTION | 23 |
Copyright | |
41 other sections not shown
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Common terms and phrases
1906 earthquake Angeles asked Beach become believed Bodega Bay bought Bruff building California Dream called camp Daly City damage death Desert Hot Springs drove earth earthquake lights Eureka eyes Ferndale Filoli fire friends gang Gate ground hair highway Hollister Humboldt County hundred imagined Indian kids knew land Lassen Trail later Leona Valley lived Loma Prieta looked Mendocino miles mountains moved Murphy named neighbors never newspaper once Pacific Palm Springs Palmdale Park Parkfield percent perhaps photographs prediction quake ranchers redwood reported residents Ritter Ranch road San Andreas Fault San Francisco Santa Cruz saying Sea Ranch seismic shacks Shelter Cove showed someone story street struck teenagers television thought timber told town trees turned USGS voice walked wanted watching week weekend wife Wiyot woman wondered
Bibliographic information
| Title | California Fault: Searching for the Spirit of a State Along the San Andreas |
| Author | Thurston Clarke |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint |
| Publisher | Random House Publishing Group, 1997 |
| ISBN | 0345409086, 9780345409089 |
| Length | 417 pages |
| Subjects | › › › Travel / United States / West / Pacific (AK, CA, HI, OR, WA) |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |