Comments for Book Beginnings on Friday: City-Makers

Book Beginnings on Friday: City-Makers: 08/19/10

Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by Becky at Page Turners. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading. If you like, share with everyone why you do, or do not, like the sentence.

Thank you to Rose City Reader for giving me the idea for this meme. On Rose City Reader you will find 'Opening Sentences of the Day' so please have a look at this wonderful blog for further opportunities to share opening sentences.

I recently finished City-Makers by Remi A. Nadeau.

GoodReads Description:

In an account as swift-paced as a novel Remi Nadeau tells of the sudden invasion of southern California by American farmers in 1868, and of the group of men who changed a sleepy pueblo into the bustling city of Los Angeles.

At the same time the discovery of silver in California gave the settlers a market for their crops and made a boom inevitable. Soon brick buildings supplanted adobe shops along the main streets. Los Angeles had begun its phenomenal rise, and its leaders quickly sought to make it the rail center of southern California.

The ensuing struggle of two railroads — the Southern Pacific and its rival, the Los Angeles and Independence —for the silver trade, and the fight for the strategic pass that could give it to them, provide tense, suspenseful reading. Colorful characters — stage robbers, vigilantes, real estate boomers, mule-team freighters, silver seekers — make this an exciting book on a little-known chapter in California's history.

The Opener:

Angelenos have always looked ahead with such intensity that they have almost lost sight of their city's background.

books | Book Beginnings on Friday

Comments (10)

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Comment #1: Thursday, August, 19, 2010 at 20:35:55

iamjenai

thanks for stopping by my blog! i love your page! nice art there!

i know i know you're thinking it's too early for Friday Blog hopping but actually this is too too late for last week's hop. :) just had a crazy week but i'm definitely hopping again!

if you have time, come visit my other blog with my latest movie review about The Expendables.

Comment #2: Friday, August 20, 2010 at 12:08:03

Pussreboots

Thank you for stopping by. I haven't even heard of The Expendables. he last movie I went to was back in April.

Comment #3: Thursday, August, 19, 2010 at 20:36:51

Booklover Book Reviews

I love that idea of 'looking ahead with intensity'.

Comment #4: Friday, August 20, 2010 at 12:11:20

Pussreboots

The thing I found most interesting was how much of Los Angeles and the surrounding cities were funded by venture capital from the Bay Area.

Comment #5: Friday, August, 20, 2010 at 03:02:55

Becky (Page Turners)

Sounds like a great book. Its a good opener and it sounds like a good story too. I hope you enjoyed it.

Comment #6: Friday, August 20, 2010 at 12:14:30

Pussreboots

It's a fascinating history book, especially for someone who has lived in both Southern and Northern California.

Comment #7: Friday, August, 20, 2010 at 09:33:53

Buffy @ Situations Where You May Need It

Sounds like an good way to learn more about California's history and development. Here's mine.