Research Guides: Common Ground: Books @the MJC Library

Books @the MJC Library

The Search for Common Ground

The Search For Common Ground: Culture in California’s Central Valley" is a two-year Humanities Initiatives Grant Project (#AC-226761-15) funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities aimed at fostering discussions and curricular development that critically explore the rich cultural heritage, daily life and struggles of those who live in California’s Central Valley. The materials listed in this guide were purchased with this grant.

The Central Valley

Haslam's Valley by Gerald Haslam
Vibrant stories and essays centered on Kern County.
Edges of Bounty by William Emery
A photographic exploration of local food producers in the Central Valley.
Picturing California's Other Landscape by Heath Schenker (Ed)
The Valley through paintings, maps, ads, and photos.
Garden of the Sun: A History of the San Joaquin Valley 1772-1939 by Wallace Smith
Chronicles how the Valley became a point of collision between the Native, American, Spanish, and Mexican cultures.
The Central Valley at a Crossroads: migration and its implications by Hans P. Johnson; Joe Hayes
Publication Date: 2004-11-01

A study by the Public Policy Institute of California
Two-Hearted Oak by Roman Loranc and Lillian Vallee
An intimate portrayal of the Central Valley through photographs and poetry
The Greening of Paradise Valley: Where the Land Owns the Water and the Power by Dwight H. Barnes
A history of the Modesto Irrigation District, 1887-1987
Drought, Water Law, and the Origins of California's Central Valley Project by Tim Stroshane
A brilliant explanation for California's legendary water wars
Highway 99: a Literary Journey Through California's Great Central Valley by Stan Yogi, editor
A rich mix of poetry, fiction, and journalism produced in the Valley

Central Valley Memoirs

Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on My Family Farm by David Mas Masumoto
A memoir of farming varietal peaches in Fresno County
Letters to the Valley: A Harvest of Memories by David Mas Masumoto
Letters that capture the rhythms of life and work in a family orchard.
Changing Season: a Father, a Daughter, a Family Farm by David Mas Masumoto and Nikiko Masumoto
Thoughts from a father and a daughter as he gives his 80-acre Fresno County organic farm to her.
Breaking Through by Francisco Jiménez
This sequel to The Circuit covers the author's years in high school in Santa Maria, CA
Reaching Out by Francisco Jiménez
The son of migrant laborers attends Santa Clara University in this sequel to Breaking Through.
Taking Hold: from Migrant Child to Columbia University by Francisco Jiménez
The final volume in Jimenez' autobiography covers his years as a graduate student in New York.

Food and Agriculture

The Color of Food by Natasha Bowens
The food and farm movement is about more than buying local and protecting our soil. It is about preserving culture and community, digging into overlooked places and honoring those who have come before us.
More Than Just Food by Garrett Broad
Exploration of the possibilities and limitations of the community-based approach to food systems that examines the food justice movement in the age of the nonprofit industrial complex
Field Guide to California Agriculture by Paul Starrs and Peter Goin
The definitive resource for exploring California's landscape and flora and fauna
Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations by David R. Montgomery
An engaging natural and cultural history of soil that sweeps from ancient civilizations to modern times, 'Dirt' explores the compelling idea that we are - and have long been - using up Earth's soil.
The Taste of Place: a Cultural Journey into Terroir by Amy B. Trubek
Bringing together stories of people farming, cooking and eating, the author focuses on a series of examples ranging from shagbark hickory nuts in Wisconsin to wines from northern California.
The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food by Dan Barber
Renowned chef Dan Barber introduces a new kind of cuisine that represents the future of American dining
Inside the California Food Revolution by Joyce Goldstein
Traces the development of California cuisine from its early years in the 1970s to the present, when farm-to-table, foraging, and fusion cuisine are part of the national vocabulary
Four Seasons in Five Senses by David Mas Masumoto
The author discusses the joys of savoring the process of quality farming, recounting in detail the sensory experience of raising a harvest

Race and Ethnicity

The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
Frantz Fanon was one of the twentieth century's most important theorists of revolution, colonialism, and racial difference, and this, his masterwork, is a classic.
Generations of Exclusion: Mexican Americans, Assimilation, and Race by Edward E. Telles and Vilma Ortiz
When boxes of original files from a 1965 survey of Mexican Americans were discovered in a dusty basement at UCLA, sociologists Edward Telles and Vilma Ortiz recognized a unique opportunity to examine how the Mexican American experience has evolved over the past four decades
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color by Gloria Anzaldúa and Cherríe Moraga, editors
"Through personal essays, criticism, interviews, testimonials, poetry, and visual art, this collection explores the complex confluence of identities systemic to women of color.

Philosophy, Sociology, History

American Exodus: the Dust Bowl Migration and Okie Culture in California by James N. Gregory
Explores the experiences of the more than 1 million migrants to California in the 1930s and 1940s from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, and Missouri
Contemporary Political Philosophy by Will Kymlicka
A new edition of the best selling critical introduction to contemporary political theory
In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong by Amin Maalouf
Maalouf contends that the future of society depends on accepting -- while recognizing our uniqueness -- all identities.
Justice Is Conflict by Stuart Hampshire
The author undermines an argument by Plato by developing a distinction between justice in procedures and justice in matters of substance.
Culture and Imperialism by Edward W. Said
A landmark work that explores the long-overlooked connections between the Western imperial endeavor and the culture that both reflected and reinforced it.

DVDs

Rape in the Fields: The Hidden Story of Rape on the Job in America
This Frontline documentary investigates the hidden problem of sexual assault routinely inflicted upon female migrant laborers working in America's fields and packing plants.
Harvest of Empire : the Untold Story of Latinos in America
An unflinching look at the role that U.S. military actions and corporate interests played in triggering waves of migration from Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America.
Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning
Profiles American photographer Dorothea Lange, who came to the attention of the world with her photographs documenting the Great Depression, and achieved lasting fame in the post-War years.

Local Music CDs

Story Song by Chris Doud
Call Number: M 1630.18 .D34 S36 2016
4 Strings by Willy Tea Taylor
Call Number: Audio CD M 1630.18 .T37 F45
Just Like the Fambly Cat by Grandaddy
Call Number: Audio CD M 1630.18 .G73 J87
The Sophtware Slump by Grandaddy
Call Number: Audio CD M 1630.18 .G73 S66
Sumday by Grandaddy
Call Number: Audio CD M 1630.18 .G73 S83
21 #1 Hits: the Ultimate Collection by Buck Owens
Call Number: Audio CD M1630.18 .O94 A12
Hag: the Best of Merle Haggard by Merle Haggard
Call Number: Audio CD M 1630.18 .H34 H34

Photography, Music, and Art

California on the Breadlines: Dorothea Lange, Paul Taylor, and the Making of a New Deal Narrative by Jan Goggans
The account of how Dorothea Lange,and Paul Taylor forged a relationship that was richly productive, culminating in the publication of American Exodus
American Exodus: a Record of Human Erosion by Dorothea Lange and Paul Schuster Taylor
A stunning pictorial record of migration in the United States in the late 1930s
Photographs of a Lifetime by Dorothea Lange
A collection of black-and-white photographs by early twentieth-century photographer Dorothea Lange
Frank Mancini: Modesto's Music Man by Kathleen M. Gooch
A pictorial biography of a Modesto pioneer.
Workin' Man Blues: Country Music in California by Gerald W. Haslam
An affectionate homage to California's place in country music's history
Picturing Culture by Jay Ruby
Essays on the relationship between film and anthropology
Visual Impact: Culture and the Meaning of Images by Terence Wright
An analysis of the theory and practice of visual representation
Art with a Difference: Looking at Difficult and Unfamiliar Art by Leonard Diepeveen
Covers ways to understand art of other cultures and outsider art as well as the difficulty many have in understanding art

Poetry, Plays and Fiction

187 Reasons Mexicanos Can't Cross the Border, 1971-2007 by Juan Felipe Herrera
Texts written and performed on the road, from Mexico City to San Francisco, from Central America to central California
Half of the World in Light by Juan Felipe Herrera
New and selected poems from the U. S. Poet Laureate
Sister Vayda's Song by Wilma E. McDaniel
Tulare poet McDaniel emigrated to California from Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl.
Zoot Suit and Other Plays by Luis Valdez
Contains Zoot Suit, Bandido!, and I Don't Have to Show You No Stinking Badges!
Your Native Land, Your Life by Adrienne Rich
A collection of poems by one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
In Kublai Khan's garden, at sunset, the young Marco Polo diverts the aged emperor from his obsession with the impending end of his empire with tales of countless cities past, present, and future.