by Josh Jackson
What Makes a Place Worth Protecting? Explore the Overlooked Wilderness of California’s Public Land
“Josh Jackson lives and breathes these lands. In them, it is clear he has discovered the secret heart of the West, and his approach to sharing it is full of genuine respect, enthusiastic admiration, and a love that shines like a sunrise.” —OBI KAUFMANN, author of The California Field Atlas
by Andrew Alden
In this San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller, Oakland Geologist Drills Into East Bay History from the Ground Down
“Deep Oakland is a gorgeous book of poetic observations about the geology and people of Oakland. I’ve never felt more in touch with the reality of deep time than when reading this work.” —ALEXIS MADRIGAL, author of The Pacific Circuit and cohost of KQED Forum
by Tony Platt
An Unflinching Critical History of UC Berkeley
“Tony Platt’s The Scandal of Cal is a template for scrutinizing other land-grant universities with their pasts of land grabs and white supremacy.” —ROXANNE DUNBAR-ORTIZ, author of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States
“A profound alternate institutional history, one that sees the long arm of institutional racism implicated everywhere.” —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
by Charles Hood
An Adventurous, Sometimes Anxious, Always Surprising Trip Around the Pacific Rim with One of the Best Contemporary Nature Writers
“Among nature writers now working, Charles Hood is my favorite. He never stops telling stories, and his perspective is fundamentally comic, even when he’s recounting a tragedy.” —JONATHAN FRANZEN
by Gary L. Prost
A Road Trip Through the Geological Wonders of California
In Rocks and Riches, Gary L. Prost—a seasoned geologist—takes readers on a road trip to 56 notable stops across California. With humor and insight, Prost explores California’s epic geological history, from the shifting tectonic plates responsible for the state’s earthquakes, to the ecological aftershocks of the Gold Rush.
The Latest in News from Native California
News from Native California Volume 38, Issue 3 offers ten probing features that include reflections on the wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles, the return of salmon to the Klamath River following the demolition of four hydroelectric dams, and the work of Indigenous science to restore cultural keystone species.
Recommended Reads
Moving Memoirs to Inform and Inspire
The memoir’s power rests in its ability to blend the personal with the political, inviting readers into an interior journey that casts a mirror on the wider world to transformative effect. The works gathered below transport us to otherwise inaccessible places and times and plunge us into myriad bodies, stirring our empathy and deepening our understanding of life as seen through the eyes of another.

Heyday is an independent publisher founded in 1974, headquartered in California. Over the last five decades, Heyday has dedicated itself to publishing books that delight in the Golden State’s natural splendor, explore its rich cultural history, amplify the voices of its first peoples, and advance social justice throughout the state and beyond. Since 1987, Heyday has also published the quarterly magazine News from Native California—celebrating Indigenous storytelling and culture-keeping. At Heyday, we believe that ideas matter, stories count, diversity of voices is crucial, and the book is still our best repository of knowledge and beauty.
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