The dreamt land : chasing water and dust across California
(Book)

"Portions of this work originally appeared, in slightly different form, in The California Sunday Magazine: "Singed" first appeared as "Dry" on January 4, 2015. "Kingdom of Wonderful" First appeared as "A Kingdom from Dust" on January 31, 2018"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 531-537) and index.

"Mark Arax is from a family of Central Valley farmers, a writer with deep ties to the land who has watched the battles over water intensify even as California lurches from drought to flood and back again. In The Dreamt Land, he travels the state to explore the one-of-a-kind distribution system, built in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, that is straining to keep up with California's relentless growth. The Dreamt Land weaves reportage, history and memoir to confront the "Golden State" myth in riveting fashion. No other chronicler of the West has so deeply delved into the empires of agriculture that drink so much of the water. The nation's biggest farmers--the nut king, grape king and citrus queen--tell their story here for the first time. Arax, the native son, is persistent and tough as he treks from desert to delta, mountain to valley. What he finds is hard earned, awe-inspiring, tragic and revelatory. In the end, his compassion for the land becomes an elegy to the dream that created California and now threatens to undo it"--,Provided by publisher.