Book excerpt: Connecting California is an innovative reader that illuminates the direct historical connections between the state of California and the United States. Featuring a selection of key documents, essays, and images from the past, the book illustrates California's cultural, political, and economic importance to the development of early and modern America. Literary and transnational themes are explored to create a comprehensive yet reader-friendly learning experience for students. The text progresses chronologically and includes an expansive array of source types designed to appeal to learners of all backgrounds and interests, with topics like food, dress, music, sports, and architecture included alongside more traditional subject matter. The second edition features streamlined information to make the text more accessible and approachable, as well as additional primary documents, and discussion around, California Indians, Spanish-to-Mexican rule, and the Fifteenth Amendment, which granted California voting rights to African Americans and Asian Americans. Appropriate for all levels of U.S. history study, Connecting California offers students a wide spectrum of resources that embody the unique eras, demographics, and geographies of both California and American history.