Michele Zack

Published in 2009 by the Sierra Madre Historical Preservation Society, this remarkable book is big in ambition, historical photos and quality writing. It tells the story of early Southern California, how the Spanish missionaries, militaries and cattlemen forced out the indigenous people, and how the Americans took over from everybody. From there the focus turns to the founding and growth of the foothill town of Sierra Madre, which at one time dreamed of being as being as important in the area as neighboring Pasadena.
Engagingly written by Michele Zack, the book is quite frank about Sierra Madre's troubles ridding itself of an early reliance on ill settlers drawn to the area to recover from tuberculosis and the unwelcoming practices toward people of color. Zack shows how Sierra Madre adapted to the great social movements and historical events of the twentieth century. She includes an appendix that separately charts Sierra Madre's history of water rights and plans for future water need.
Filled with large photos, maps, documents and artifacts, this could easily be just a coffee table book for those that live in or love Sierra Madre. Zack's writing makes it much more than that. The book does feel rushed at the end as it whips through the last few decades up to 2009 but most readers are familiar with that time and history is best observed by those looking back without vested interest.… (mer)