Brian Boyd

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

California

Evolution, Cognition, and Fiction

A century and a half after the publication of Origin of Species, evolutionary thinking has expanded beyond the field of biology to include virtually all human-related subjects—anthropology, archeology, psychology, economics, religion, morality, politics, culture, and art. Now a distinguished scholar offers the first comprehensive account of the evolutionary origins of art and storytelling. Brian Boyd explains why we tell stories, how our minds are shaped to understand them, and what difference an evolutionary understanding of human nature makes to stories we love. Art is a specifically human adaptation, Boyd argues. It offers tangible advantages for human survival, and it derives from play, itself an adaptation widespread among more intelligent animals. More particularly, our fondness for storytelling has sharpened social cognition, encouraged cooperation, and fostered creativity. After considering art as adaptation, Boyd examines Homer’s Odyssey and Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who! demonstrating how an evolutionary lens can offer new understanding and appreciation of specific works. What triggers our emotional engagement with these works? What patterns facilitate our responses? The need to hold an audience’s attention, Boyd underscores, is the fundamental problem facing all storytellers. Enduring artists arrive at solutions that appeal to cognitive universals: an insight out of step with contemporary criticism, which obscures both the individual and universal. Published for the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of Origin of Species, Boyd’s study embraces a Darwinian view of human nature and art, and offers a credo for a new humanism.

On the Origin of Stories

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Leonard Michaels

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

Imagining California

A vivid collection of stories, essays, remembrances and poems, conceived and organized as a journey through California, by a diverse and splendid array of writers including Jack Kerouac, Amy Tan, M.F.K. Fisher, Tom Wolfe, and Gore Vidal.

West of the West

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Philip L. Fradkin

A Natural and Human History

"Philip Fradkin's work is full of foresight, good sense, and an understanding of the ties between social and environmental dilemmas. Taking Fradkin's writing seriously is an important step in figuring out the American West today."—Patricia Nelson Limerick

The Seven States of California

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Ian K. Steele

Invasions of North America

A history of the numerous attempts of European invaders to conquer North America details the successful efforts of the Native American peoples to repel these invasions

Warpaths

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Leonard Peltier

Chief Arvol Looking Horse

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

My Life Is My Sun Dance

In September of 2022, twenty-five years after Leonard Peltier received a life sentence for the murder of two FBI agents, the DNC unanimously passed a resolution urging President Joe Biden to release him. Peltier has affirmed his innocence ever since his sentencing in 1977--his case was made fully and famously in Peter Matthiessen's bestselling In the Spirit of Crazy Horse--and many remain convinced he was wrongly convicted.

Prison Writings is a wise and unsettling book, both memoir and manifesto, chronicling his life in Leavenworth Prison in Kansas. Invoking the Sun Dance, in which pain leads one to a transcendent reality, Peltier explores his suffering and the insights it has borne him. He also locates his experience within the history of the American Indian peoples and their struggles to overcome the federal government's injustices.

Edited by Harvey Arden, with an Introduction by Chief Arvol Looking Horse, and a Preface by former Attorney General Ramsey Clark.

Prison Writings

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James Oakes

Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution

Finalist for the 2022 Lincoln Prize An award-winning scholar uncovers the guiding principles of Lincoln’s antislavery strategies. The long and turning path to the abolition of American slavery has often been attributed to the equivocations and inconsistencies of antislavery leaders, including Lincoln himself. But James Oakes’s brilliant history of Lincoln’s antislavery strategies reveals a striking consistency and commitment extending over many years. The linchpin of antislavery for Lincoln was the Constitution of the United States. Lincoln adopted the antislavery view that the Constitution made freedom the rule in the United States, slavery the exception. Where federal power prevailed, so did freedom. Where state power prevailed, that state determined the status of slavery, and the federal government could not interfere. It would take state action to achieve the final abolition of American slavery. With this understanding, Lincoln and his antislavery allies used every tool available to undermine the institution. Wherever the Constitution empowered direct federal action—in the western territories, in the District of Columbia, over the slave trade—they intervened. As a congressman in 1849 Lincoln sponsored a bill to abolish slavery in Washington, DC. He reentered politics in 1854 to oppose what he considered the unconstitutional opening of the territories to slavery by the Kansas–Nebraska Act. He attempted to persuade states to abolish slavery by supporting gradual abolition with compensation for slaveholders and the colonization of free Blacks abroad. President Lincoln took full advantage of the antislavery options opened by the Civil War. Enslaved people who escaped to Union lines were declared free. The Emancipation Proclamation, a military order of the president, undermined slavery across the South. It led to abolition by six slave states, which then joined the coalition to affect what Lincoln called the "King’s cure": state ratification of the constitutional amendment that in 1865 finally abolished slavery.

The Crooked Path to Abolition

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Edie Kerouac-Parker

Published by City Lights, You’ll Be Okay: My Life With Jack Kerouac, details the relationship of the famous Beat Writer with his wife, Edie Kerouac-Parker

My Life with Jack Kerouac

Discusses the lives and marriage of Edie Parker Kerouac and Jack Kerouac.

You'll Be Okay

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David Allen Sibley

A guide for bird enthusiasts specifically designed for use in the field features descriptions of 703 species of birds from west of the Rocky Mountains, and illustrations that depict species from different views.

The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America

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Robert Marshall Utley

Looks at the various conflicts between white settlers and Native American tribes during the period of Western expansion

The Indian Frontier American West 1846-1890

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Robert M. Utley

Some markings, but overall the book is in good condition. 

The United States Army & the Indian, 1866-1891

Details the U.S. Army's campaign in the years following the Civil War to contain the American Indian and promote Western expansion

Frontier Regulars

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Editor of the Southwest

Charles F. Lummis (1859 -1928) was a colorful, dynamic, and often eccentric crusader for the Spanish heritage of California. The founder and editor of "Land of Sunshine"--or "Out West, " as the magazine was known after 1902--he recruited writers such as Mary Austin, Jack London, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman to contribute short stories, poetry, articles, and essays, many of them based on Western themes. Lummis himself wrote editorials extolling the glories of Southern California, decrying racial prejudice, and calling for the preservation of California's historic landmarks. Bingham examines "Out West" from a number of angles: as a Western business enterprise, as a promotional vehicle, as an outlet and training ground for regional writers, and as an instrument of reform. His study, first published in 1955, remains an important and absorbing account of Lummis's life and of the magazine he established.

Charles F. Lummis

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small imperfections on dust jacket, otherwise excellent 

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

The History, People, and Events of Drum Barracks Wilmington, California

The Beat of the Drum

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A Chronicle of the California 100 and Battalion in the Civil War, from San Francisco to Appomattox

The little known story of the five hundred volunteers from California known as the "California Hundred and Battalion." This is not a narrative or reworded history, the words are from those who were there. Gain new insights into California's involvement in the Civil War.

Their Horses Climbed Trees

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Some fading of covers, but text copy is clean and bright. 

The Great Exception

This edition is graced by a new foreword by Lewis Lapham.

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This copy is in excellent, unread condition. 

C. G. Jung on Nature, Technology and Modern Life

While never losing sight of the rational, cultured mind, Jung speaks for the natural mind, source of the evolutionary experience and accumulated wisdom of our species. Through his own example, Jung shows how healing our own living connection with Nature contributes to the whole.

The Earth Has a Soul

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Grand Central Press featuring the work of Phil Dike and the Laguna Art Museum’s At the Edge of the Sea Exhibition. 

Oversized Paperback (4 to 6 lbs)

Phil Dike: At the Edge of the Sea

New in shrink wrap. This stunning book features the bright and bold art of Manuel Pardo. 

Universo Soñado in Technicolor

Manuel Pardo: Universo Soñado in Technicolor (a universe dreamed in Technicolor) is a two-hundred-and-thirty-page full-color book published on the occasion of the exhibition Manuel Pardo-Stardust: at the Cal State University Fullerton, Begovich Gallery, April 9-May 12, 2011. Drawing from his life experiences, pop culture and fine art references, Pardo has developed a distinctly unique style: His comic strip and cartoon influenced figures and imagery are constructed of pert flat local color, ornate handcrafted lines and decorative patterns. He routinely works in series of repeated like images with slight variations. Just beyond the sensual appeal of Pardo's drawings and paintings are pointed references to gender, mortality, ethnicity and other issues regarding the human condition-not the least of which is his struggle with sexual identity and acceptance as a gay male Cuban American.

Manuel Pardo

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#museum #museums #evaluation #museumevaluation 

Tools for Museums and Other Informal Educational Settings

Presents the principles and techniques needed to design, implement and present an evaluation project. This book offers the tools needed for studying the behavior and learning of people in informal educational settings, including how to plan an evaluation, evaluate evaluators, perform visitor observations, and conduct interviews.

Practical Evaluation Guide

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#historicdistrict #preservation #historicpreservation

From Designation Campaigns to Keeping Districts Vital

The Historic District Action Guide: From Designation Campaigns to Keeping Districts Vital is a results-oriented, straight-talking guide for local activists, professionals, and preservation commissions committed to winning and maintaining local historic districts. Its political approach focuses on the crucial challenges of gaining and sustaining community and local governmental support for historic district regulations. This how-to guide gives citizens who are fighting to designate a local historic district the political know-how to win the support of fellow residents and city hall. Everything is here: learning to think politically, mastering the political process; planning and strategy; campaign organizing and leadership; framing a practical vision; anticipating and handling the opposition; conducting community meetings; skirmishing with property rightists; managing issues, petitions, and public opinion; dealing with public officials; strategizing for public hearings; and winning the vote for district designation. Once the vote is won, the Action Guide shows how to maintain momentum in their communities once the initial political campaign to win historic preservation designation has faded and the real work of enforcement begins.

The Historic District Action Guide

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Overall good to very-good condition. Some pencil underlining in text. #history #historicalmemory

Public Memory, Commemoration, and Patriotism in the Twentieth Century

In a compelling inquiry into public events ranging from the building of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial through ethnic community fairs to pioneer celebrations, John Bodnar explores the stories, ideas, and symbols behind American commemorations over the last century. Such forms of historical consciousness, he argues, do not necessarily preserve the past but rather address serious political matters in the present.

Remaking America

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#women #nativeamericanstudies #nativewomen #feminine #femininetraditions

Browse by categories

Brian Boyd

On the Origin of Stories

Leonard Michaels

West of the West

Philip L. Fradkin

The Seven States of California

Ian K. Steele

Warpaths

Leonard Peltier; Chief Arvol Looking Horse

Prison Writings

James Oakes

The Crooked Path to Abolition

Edie Kerouac-Parker

You'll Be Okay

David Allen Sibley

The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America

Robert Marshall Utley

The Indian Frontier American West 1846-1890

Robert M. Utley

Frontier Regulars

Charles Bingham

Charles F. Lummis

Don McDowell

The Beat of the Drum

Larry Rogers

Their Horses Climbed Trees

Carey McWilliams

California

Joseph Henderson (Foreword by)

The Earth Has a Soul

Blake

Phil Dike: At the Edge of the Sea

Mike McGee; David Frankel; Manuel Pardo (Illustrator); Susana Torruello Leval (Foreword by)

Manuel Pardo

Judy Diamond

Practical Evaluation Guide

William E. Schmickle

The Historic District Action Guide

John Bodnar

Remaking America

Paula Gunn Allen

The Sacred Hoop

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