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Haslam’s Valley Gerald Haslam Stories and essays from the champion of the “other” California. Gerald Haslam picks up where Mark Twain left off in this career-spanning collection brimming with life and humor—but this is Kern County instead of Calaveras, Oildale instead of Nevada City, a great alligator hunt instead of a celebrated jumping frog. While Haslam’s stories entertain, his essays gesture at the sweeping diversity of the Central Valley and the richness of community to be found there. Here too is a darker side of California’s heartland, where a Japanese family bids good-bye to an America they thought they knew, and where Okies are shunned as second-class citizens. Haslam tackles problems of racism, social class, and environmental issues that are plaguing the Valley, as well as crafting whimsical tales full of local color. With an ear for dialect and his feet firmly planted in his native soil, Haslam delivers vibrant stories that have secured him a place in the pantheon of great American writers and have earned Oildale a spot on the literary map. |
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“Haslam has that rare ability to write about places without ignoring their flaws and at the same time acknowledging their virtues.…The music in these pages is country and western, and the drug of choice is the old standby—the six-pack.” —Jonah Raskin, The Press Democrat |
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Gerald Haslam is the author and editor of numerous books of fiction and nonfiction, including Workin’ Man Blues: Country Music in California (also available from Heyday Books) and The Great Central Valley: California's Heartland. Haslam was a professor of English at California State University, Sonoma, until his retirement in 1997. He lives in Sonoma County, California. |
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© Heyday Books, 2006 |