Voices of a Place: Social and Literary Essays from the Other California

What is life like in the 'Other California,' the regions of the Golden State where toil -- not tennis -- characterizes each day?

        This collection of essays explores blue-collar existence in out-of-the-way places and suggests unique textures in Californians' lives, as well as their savor and sorrow.

        Mexican-American farm workers struggle to escape the cycle of agricultural peonage in King City, the progeny of migrant Okies edge into the middle class in Bakersfield, and self-appointed "sheriffs" patrol Petaluma. Meanwhile, elitist rich and desperate poor, white and non-white, urban and rural, Californians all, learn to live together, or don't.

        This is Gerald Haslam's world.