Material Dreams

In this book, the author is focusing on the making of Southern California, its design and material construction in the early and mid-twentieth century, with special reference to the visions and metaphors underlying such a process. This is also a book about design, construction, and identity, whether in aqueducts, architecture, gardens, city-plans, transportation systems, hotels, studio sets, symphony orchestras, or hydroelectric grids.

Kevin Starr is the author of the series Americans and the California Dream, including the previously published Americans and the California Dream, 1850-1915, and Inventing the Dream: California through the Progressive Era. The next installment is The Dream Endures: California through the Great Depression.