Contact:
Linda Netschert, 406-444-5103, [email protected]
800-821-3874, fax 406-443-5480

California's Best: Two Centuries of Great Writing from the Golden State
Edited by: Peter Fish
Release date: July 2009
Specs: 360 pages, 6 x 9”, softcover
Price: $18.95


New Anthology by Sunset Magazine’s Peter fish
Experience California as seen through the eyes of forty-one writers spanning two centuries—from early adventurers to contemporary poets—in this long-awaited anthology.

Edited by Sunset Magazine’s Peter Fish, California’s Best: Two Centurires of Great Writing from the Golden State features fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, including Tobias Wolff’s short story “Desert Breakdown, 1968,” Joan Didion’s essay “Notes from a Native Daughter,” and a selection from Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club.

Excerpts from the works of Wallace Stegner, Jack London, John Muir, Mark Twain, and many others incorporate voices from the past. Contemporary writers include Robert Hass, Daniel Duane, Anne Lamott, and Tom McNeal.

Organized by geographic region, the thoughtfully chosen pieces in this unique collection create a fascinating portrait of California, from its mountains and valleys to the Pacific Coast, Bay Area, and Southern California.

California’s Best: Two Centuries of Great Writing from the Golden State is available at local bookstores and gift shops, through online retailers, or from Farcountry Press at 1.800.821.3874, www.farcountrypress.com.

Features works by:
Virginia Hamilton Adair, Gertrude Atherton, Mary Austin, Herb Caen, J. Smeaton Chase, Louise Amelia Knapp, Smith Clapp, Ina Coolbrith, Richard H. Dana, Joan Didion, Harriet Doerr, Daniel Duane, Dana Gioia, Mary Edith Griswold, Ron Hansen, Bret Harte, Robert Hass, Helen Hunt Jackson, Robinson Jeffers, Clarence King, Anne Lamott, Jack London, William Lewis Manly, Wilma McDaniel, Tom McNeal, Joaquin Miller, Max Miller, Walter Mosley, John Muir, Charles Nordhoff, Frank Norris, Jenny Price, Gary Snyder, Gary Soto, Wallace Stegner, John Steinbeck, George Sterling, Robert Louis Stevenson, Amy Tan, Mark Twain, Judy Van der Veer, Tobias Wolff

About the Editor
Peter Fish was born in Santa Barbara, California, and grew up in Ventura. He received a B.A. in history from Yale University, where he focused on the history of the American West. He was a Mirrielees Fellow in creative writing at Stanford University and a Hoyns Fellow in fiction at the University of Virginia. He has written and edited for Sunset Magazine for many years and is currently Sunset’s editor-at-large. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, Nancy, and son, Joseph.

Praise for California’s Best:
“With this book, Peter Fish has managed to pull together famous and lesser-known writers from across the years and landscapes to create a picture of California that is both timeless and surprising. The strength of California’s Best is that it gives you a renewed appreciation for the magnetic pull this state has had over the people who have lived and written here. It’s a great read.” KATIE TAMONY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, SUNSET MAGAZINE

“Armchair travelers will find that California’s Best provides them with the services of an ideal tour guide. Peter Fish marshals sharp wisdom and deep knowledge to forge a book that offers a memorable journey through California’s extraordinary landscapes and histories. With each poem, memoir, short story, or essay, Fish steps aside to let a remarkable array of writers take over the tour. Readers will finish the journey not only with an enhanced appreciation for California but also with heightened powers of observation and reflection to bring to bear on every place they land.” —PATRICIA NELSON LIMERICK, AUTHOR OF DESERT PASSAGES AND THE LEGACY OF CONQUEST AND NATIVE OF BANNING, CALIFORNIA

“Jack London, Wallace Stegner, Gary Snyder, John Steinbeck and Joan Didion, Mark Twain and Tobias Wolff, Robert Hass and so many excellent others—California’s Best is a terrific regional anthology, elegantly organized, with brilliant selections. Don’t miss this one.” —WILLIAM KITTREDGE, CO-EDITOR, WITH ANNICK SMITH, OF THE LAST BEST PLACE

About Farcountry Press
Farcountry Press is the descendant of American and World Geographic Publishing, the book-publishing arm of Montana Magazine. The company was formed in 1980 and is based in Helena, Montana.

Farcountry specializes in softcover and hardcover color photography books showcasing the nation’s cities, states, national parks, and wildlife. Farcountry also publishes several popular children’s series, as well as guidebooks, cookbooks, and regional history titles nationwide.

The staff produces about 25 books annually; the backlist has grown to more than 300 titles.

www.farcountrypress.com, 800.821.3874

California’s Best: Two Centuries of Great Writing from the Golden State is available at local bookstores and gift shops, through online retailers, or from Farcountry Press at 1.800.821.3874, www.farcountrypress.com.

For a press kit (cover image, interior photos, author contact information) contact Linda Netschert, 406-444-5103, [email protected].


All Content © Farcountry Press 2008-2009. All images © by respective artists and photographers.