"A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist's panoramic history of California and its impact on the nation, from the Gold Rush to Silicon Valley--told through the lens of Governor Jerry Brown's family dynasty. When Governor Jerry Brown finishes his fourth term at the end of 2018, he will have bookended his career as both the youngest and the oldest governor of California. He and his father Pat Brown will have governed the state for twenty-four years since 1959--almost half of the state's modern history. How did the Brown political dynasty arise, and what is its lasting impact? In The Browns of California, award-winning journalist and scholar Miriam Pawel brings to life four generations of the Brown family as a prism through which we view the history of the Union's thirty-first state. Through the family's colorful and significant principal players, she weaves a narrative that is essential to understanding California and the way it shapes the nation. This book gives new insights to those steeped in California history, offers a corrective for those who confuse stereotypes and legend for history, and opens new vistas for readers familiar with only the sketchiest outlines of a place habitually viewed from afar with a mix of envy and awe, disdain, and fascination"--