Follow biologist Derek Madden as he explores some of California's most diverse ecosystems.
 Most often associated with rich farmland, bountiful orchards, spreading cities, irrigation channels, and well-traveled highways, California's Great Central Valley and nearby Sierra Nevada Foothills have long hosted abundant, varied, and often surprising plant and animal life.
 Meet the pickleweed, which survives in intensely alkaline soil by concentrating the salty water on the tips of its branches; lentinus, a hairy-capped mushroom called ''train wrecker'' because it decomposes railroad ties; the river otter, which has nearly one thousand hairs per square inch of skin; and hundreds of other miracles that carry on their ancient lives in a much-changed environment.
 Overflowing with fanciful yet accurate illustrations, Magpies and Mayflies delves deep into the natural world of the Central Valley and Foothills.

Magpies And Mayflies: An Introduction To Plants And Animals Of Central Valley And Sierra Foothills

History

Madden, Derek

Charters, Ken

Snyder, Cathy

Americas

Great Valley Books

From the myths of the Yokuts Indians to stories and poems by famous contemporary writers, this anthology showcases the best literature of California s Great Central Valley and provides a rich view of the region s physical and emotional landscape. In the past, the Central Valley, an agricultural region nestled between the Sierra Nevada and the coast, was rarely thought of as an area of literary significance. The quality of writing presented in these pages and the popularity of the earlier edition of this anthology have changed this perception. With thirty-three added selections and a new foreword by Mark Arax, Highway 99, has been updated to reflect the growing body of outstanding writing originating from the region. This is American literature at its best literature as authentic and as powerful as the land that inspired it.

Highway 99: A Literary Journey Through California's Great Central Valley

Literature & Fiction

Yogi, Stan

Mak, Gayle

Wakida, Patricia

United States

A comprehensive survey of California poetry over the past 150 years California Poetry: From the Gold Rush to the Present is a groundbreaking new book presenting the work of 101 writers, the first historical anthology to provide a comprehensive survey of California poetry. An authoritative yet accessible collection, it brings together 150 years of the finest California poetry by authors of all schools and ideas. California Poetry also reveals the state's rich cultural and environmental legacy, from the early days of Spanish settlers to the more recent emergence of the Asian and Latino worlds: a reflection of lives closely tied to mountains, deserts, verdant valleys, and the vast shoreline of the Pacific Ocean.

California Poetry: From the Gold Rush to the Present (California Legacy)

Dana Gioia

Chryss Yost

History & Criticism

A violent storm sweeps through California, taking on a life of her own. Making her way from the Pacific Coast, she gains momentum as she approaches the Sierra and transforms into a blizzard of great strength, covering mountain ranges and roads with twenty feet of snow. Originally published in 1941, _Storm_ is a rare combination of fiction and science by a master storyteller, drawing upon a deep knowledge of geography, meteorology, and human nature. 
"In _Storm_ we are…far from freeways, from megapopulation, from sprawl, from beach TV, from stress, from road rage. And we are in touch with a much deeper reality. Of land and water and weather, of humans huddled together on the planet in a dark universe."—Ernest Callenbach, in the foreword

Storm (California Legacy)

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

CALLENBACH, Ernest

Stewart, George Rippey

Thrillers & Suspense

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Books by Great Valley Books