A provincial, largely forgettable treatment of public life in California from 1990-2003. Starr, the state librarian for most of the term, ranges from establishmentarian to postmodern fellow traveler, writing as if to please the academy. As an assessment of important events, the book lacks context and reads like too many clipped essays strung together, especially on such matters as political economy or social issues like ‘diversity’. A major theme, the comparison of Los Angeles and San Francisco, is poorly constructed as the southern metropole should be compared to the greater Bay Area. Starr shortchanges the digital revolution, devoting a scant seven pages to the dot coms — focused on the downturn at that — and misses the cloud / collaborative trend that is more important than offshore production as a barometer of innovation. The book’s treatment of second-tier cities (i.e., San Diego, Sacramento, Berkeley, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs) is somewhat useful, and Starr is also helpful on the aerospace collapse, crime in LA, and a few other topics. But the decade’s principal triumphs are seen as large public works (often in the Southland), and much cultural analysis appears to be narrowly written for architects. There is little political narrative, even as the state was moving toward a single-party oligarchy. Starr’s primary question — wither California’s middle-class dream — is inconclusively answered. More rigorous historical treatment awaits.