Three lectures on “The Hispanicization of California” (by James Rawls), “The California Gold Rush: Its Impact and Influences” (by J. S. Holliday), and “Mark Twain in the West” (by Robert Hirst).

For a transplant like myself that never actually learned some of the key history of the state that I now live, this lecture series (listened to on tape read by the authors) gives a very good history of three distinct times in California’s life.