Letters

Alta Readers Help Define California Canon

We asked our readers what titles they’d include in John Freeman’s “The New California Curriculum,” an essay describing how recent literature reflects the real Golden State.

Alta Readers Share Their California Heritage
We asked our readers to help define what makes someone a Californian…
Resistance: How—Not Whether—to Act
In a series of letters sent between Frankfurt and San Diego during t…
El Camino Real Bells Controversy Rings Loud
Alta readers share passionate responses to Marcela Davison Avilés’s …
Birth of the California Canon
Hamlin Garland was the author of more than 40 books, including A Son…
May 13, 2019
Atomic Petrifaction

Readers regularly write us with questions, comments and suggestions, and our authors respond — in Alta’s Letters to the Editor.
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Mar 6, 2019
Migrant Letters
Changing immigration laws, job opportunities, and acclimation to a new culture are captured in these letters from 20th-century Chinese …
Oct 31, 2018
He Left His Harte
Bret Harte (1836-1902) was an important figure in California literature as a chronicler of 19th century life and teller of tales. He wr…
Aug 17, 2018
San Francisco’s First Boom
Thomas O. Larkin was the Navy’s agent in San Francisco, as well as being a successful businessman himself. His Gold Rush letters to his…
Jun 28, 2018
The Socialist Socialite
Kate Crane Gartz (1865-1949) was an epitome of a famous American type: the wealthy progressive firebrand. she railed against injustice …
Apr 24, 2018
John Muir, Naturally

John Muir’s evocative description of Yosemite Valley and the wilds of California
Oct 29, 2017
Twain on California
During the period 1862-68, Mark Twain penned letters for publications both from California and to California newspapers, including the …