Great Depression in California
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Kevin Starr, the State Librarian of California, has written extensively about California history, including the history of California political action. In doing so, he has also suggested certain attitudes toward politics and political action on the part of different Californians and on his own part as well. Power in political terms can be defined as the ability to get something accomplished, whether that be positive or negative (which means it can also be the ability to stop someone else from getting something accomplished). Political power is sought by every politically oriented group in society. It is clear from recent political battles that these elements often clash and that there is considerable argument over how much power each wields. In his book Endangered Dreams, Starr examines the political actions taken during the Great Depression in California, an era of tension in which the dichotomy between liberal and conservative was seen by some as an issue of patriotism. Some saw liberals as incipient reds and opposed such things as unionization or the New Deal policies intended to address the problems of the Depression. Others saw Conservatives as tied to old concepts or as inimical to the working class citizen. Starr's depiction of this era suggests a view of political action as either working or not according to whether the two sides can be brought together. Erwin Chemerinsky and Jackie Dupont-Walker suggest a political paradigm in
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hieving political action.
STARR AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION
Starr's book Endangered Dreams can be read to ascertain the meaning of Liberal and Conservative then and now. The book can be analyzed using a political paradigm derived from what Chemerinsky and DuPont-Walker on the one hand and Starr on the other say about Charter Reform in los Angeles and from Hayden White's Metahistory, which while it deals with historical analysis in nineteenth century Europe can also be applied to more contemporary issues based on what it says about political objectivity and history. One question is whether a historian such as Starr may have a political persuasion which obfuscates or colors his objectivity as a historian. By comparing Kevin Starr's political opinions as embodied in his article "Charter Reform: The Lure of Politics as Therapy" with the chapter "The Left Side of the Continent: Radicalism in Nineteenth-Century San Francisco," pages 3-27 in Endangered Dreams: The Great Depression in California, it is possible to examine and deconstruct Kevin Starr's roles as political citizen and historian.
The chapter can be analyzed according to the five levels of "conceptualization" set forth by White. "Number One: Chronicle" and "Number Two:
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2626
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)
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