California People. By Carol Dunlap. Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith
Books, 1982. Illustrations. Index. 234 Pages. $19.95 Paper.
California People is a handy (if greatly overpriced) reference book
for a teacher or anyone dealing regularly with the California story. It is a
biographical dictionary of people important to California history. The book
consists of about 500 entries arranged in alphabetical order concerning individuals
or families. Some of the entries are a few lines, some a whole page, with most
about fifty lines long. A few include bibliographical references. The figures
included range from governors and other political figures to inventors, cultural
leaders, sports figures, entertainers, businessmen and many others who made a
mark on California. San Diego is well represented with people from the community
such as Juan Bandini, William Heath Davis, Alonzo Horton, Irving Gill, and others
important to the area, such as rainmaker Charles Hatfield. Although one could
always quarrel with any selection of 500 people from California's past, the
choices here seem mostly reasonable although probably too heavily weighted on
entertainment figures. An index increases the usefulness of the book. The
illustrations add to the interest in the figures.
