Inter State: Essays from California (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781593766955)

A "must read" debut collection of poetic, linked essays investigating the past and present state of California, its conflicting histories and their impact on a writer's family and life (Los Angeles Times).

California has been advertised as a destiny manifested for those ready to pull up their bootstraps and head west across to find wealth on the other side of the Sierra Nevada since the 19th century. Across the seven essays in the debut collection by José Vadi, we hear from the descendants of those not promised that prize.

Inter State explores California through many lenses: an aging obsessed skateboarder; a self-appointed dive bar DJ; a laid-off San Francisco tech worker turned rehired contractor; a grandson of Mexican farmworkers pursuing the crops they tilled.

Amidst wildfires, high speed rail, housing crises, unprecedented wealth and its underlying decay, Inter State excavates and roots itself inside those necessary stories and places lost in the ever-changing definitions of a selectively golden state.

Author: José Vadi
ISBN-10: 1593766955
ISBN-13: 9781593766955
Publisher: Soft Skull
Language: English
Published: 09/14/2021
Pages: 224
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.40w x 0.70d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 06/21/2021
Kirkus Reviews 07/15/2021
Shelf Awareness 09/21/2021