Gerald Haslam picks up where Mark Twain left off in this career-spanning collection brimming with life and humor—but this is Kern County instead of Calaveras, Oildale instead of Nevada City, a great alligator hunt instead of a celebrated jumping frog.
While Haslam’s stories entertain, his essays gesture at the sweeping diversity of the Central Valley and the richness of community to be found there. Here too is a darker side of California’s heartland, where a Japanese family bids good-bye to an America they thought they knew, and where Okies are shunned as second-class citizens. Haslam tackles problems of racism, social class, and environmental issues that are plaguing the Valley, as well as crafting whimsical tales full of local color.
Gerald Haslam is the author and editor of numerous books of fiction and nonfiction, including 
