The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty that Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation

Written by Miriam Pawel

Narrated by Christina Delaine

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 the family dynasty that led the state for nearly a quarter century.

In The Browns of California, journalist and scholar Miriam Pawel weaves a narrative history that spans four generations, from August Schuckman, the Prussian immigrant who crossed the Plains in 1852 and settled on a northern California ranch, to his great-grandson Jerry Brown, who reclaimed the family homestead one hundred forty years later. Through the prism of their lives, we gain an essential understanding of California and an appreciation of its importance.

This book gives new insights to those steeped in California history, offers a corrective for those who confuse stereotypes and legend for fact, and opens new vistas for listeners familiar with only the sketchiest outlines of a place habitually viewed from afar with a mix of envy and awe, disdain, and fascination.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Sep 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9781515942818

Miriam Pawel

Miriam Pawel is an award-winning reporter and editor who spent twenty-five years working for Newsday and the Los Angeles Times. She was recently an Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellow and a John Jacobs Fellow at the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies.

Reviews for The Browns of California

[Corey Brunson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you aren't a fan of Jerry Brown, you won't enjoy this audiobook, but it provides an exhaustive review of the events and people who shaped California, especially through the 20th century. The narrator needs some help with California pronunciations (It's "De-LA-no," not "DEL-ano!") and the author's adoration of the Brown family leaves me wondering what was left out -- even though I'm a supporter -- but the book is packed with important California policy background.

[jonerthon-437513 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

We may be hurting for competent, thoughtful leaders in the public sector in 2018 (ok, we definitely are). But digging beyond the Trumps and Mays of the world, we do have these, and Pawel wrote a painstakingly detailed account that follows three. Those are imminently retiring California governor (and one time state attorney general, mayor of Oakland, and candidate for president) Jerry Brown, his sister Kathleen, former state treasurer and one-time gubernatorial candidate, and, one generation back, their father Pat, also an attorney general and governor. The number of interviews she conducted is an insanely impressive feat, to get a fuller picture of where this family came from and what inspired them to govern as they did. Given the many offices held by the three Browns over multiple decades, this could have been an insurmountable topic, but Pawel whipped it into a smart narrative that put the details where they did the most good. Jerry Brown is the primary subject, but many other family members and friends are included. Recommended if you want to feel more optimistic about public service and how wealthy people can contribute positively.