Overview
In February 1936, Los Angeles police officers drove hundreds of miles to Californiaās state borders with one mission: turn back anyone deemed too poor to enter.
Myths of the Golden Stateās abundance enticed thousands of Americans uprooted by the Depression, but those who created those myths saw only invading criminal āhordesā that they believed just one man could stop: James āTwo-Gunā Davis, Los Angeles's authoritarian police chief.
The Golden Fortress tells the story of Davisās audacious deployment of hand-picked armed police slamming Californiaās door on Americaās Dust Bowl refugees and Depression-displaced migrants. It depicts the sometimes deadly consequences of law enforcement politicized and weaponized against the poor, even in remote places like Modoc County, where a sheriffās opposition to the blockade inflamed an already smoldering feud between an itinerant newsman and a publisher obsessed with her California heritage.
Davis, blessed by his cityās ruling business class and fueled by his own wild claims of communist conspiracies undermining America, deployed his āForeign Legionā to Californiaās state lines, threatening democracy even as the nation's cities and rural communities juggled the burdens of economic recovery, migrant aid, and public safety.
The Golden Fortress underscores the decades-long fight over who can access the American Dream.
This book title, The Golden Fortress (California's Border War on Dust Bowl Refugees), ISBN: 9781641606042, by Bill Lascher, published by Chicago Review Press (August 9, 2022) is available in hardcover. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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