Literary Honors
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Critical Commentaries - Reviewers Comments
- 2021 AASLH Leadership in History Award!
- 2016 Eric Hoffer Award for Legacy Fiction, (for Leon Patterson: A California Story)
- 2015 "Recommended", US Review of Books, (for Leon Patterson: A California Story)
- 2013 Award of Merit from American Association of State and Local History for In Thought and Action: The Enigmatic Life of S. I. Hayakawa
- 2013 Hayakawa Book Prize from The Institute of General Semantics for In Thought and Action: The Enigmatic Life of S. I. Hayakawa
- 2006 Josephine Miles National Literary Award from PEN Oakland for Haslam's Valley
- 2004 Certificate of Commendation, California Arts Council
- 2001 Western States Arts Federation's Fiction Award for Straight White Male
- 2001 ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Award, Second Prize General Fiction, for Straight White Male
- 2000 Ralph J. Gleason Award from Rolling Stone, BMI, and New York University, for Workin' Man Blues
- 1999 Coming of Age in California named one of the 20th century's 100 best non-fiction books from the West by San Francisco Chronicle readers' poll
- 1994 Award of Merit from the Association of State and Local History (for The Great Central Valley: California's Heartland)
- 1994 Commonwealth Club Medal (for The Great Central Valley: California's Heartland)
- 1993 Honorable Mention (finalist) PEN USA West Non-fiction Book of the Year (for The Great Central Valley: California's Heartland)
- 1993 Non-fiction, Bay Area Book Reviewers' Association Award (for The Great Central Valley: California's Heartland)
- 1993 Benjamin Franklin Award from Publisher's Marketing Association (for Many Californias)
- 1993 "Outstanding Book" (for The Great Central Valley: California's Heartland) from Arts Council of Kern
- 1993 "Outstanding Literary Artist" from Arts Council of Kern
- 1990 Josephine Miles Award from PEN Oakland (for That Constant Coyote)
- 1988 Honorable Mention, Spur Best Short Fiction Award from Western Writers of America (for "The Estero")
- 1985 Bernard Ashton Raborg Award (for "William Saroyan and the Critics")
- 1983 Special Mention, Pushcart Prize (for "The Man Who Cultivated Fire")
- 1978 Honorary "Okie" from the State of Oklahoma (for Okies and Masks)
- 1971 Honorable Mention, Joseph Henry Jackson Award (for mss. of Okies)
- 1969 Arizona Quarterly Award (for "The Subtle Thread")
Other Honors:
- N.D. San Francisco State University, "Alumni Hotshot"
- 2013 Bakersfield College Centennial "100 Stars"
- 2008 Garces Memorial High School, Hall of Honor
- 2007 Bakersfield College, Track/Cross-Country Hall of Fame
- 2005 Delbert and Edith Wylder Award (for "Exceptional Service") Western Literature Association
- 2003 Sequoia -- Giant of the Valley Award, The Great Valley Center
- 2001 Carey McWilliams Award from the California Studies Association
- 1999 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Western Literature Association
- 1998 Bakersfield Centennial Literature Award
- 1998 Laureate of the San Francisco Public Library
- 1992 Friends of the SSU Library Faculty Award
- 1989 Creative Writing Fellowship from California Arts Council
- 1986-87 Fulbright Senior Lectureship, Madrid
- 1983-84 President, Western Literature Association
