The Browns of California

Starred review from August 6, 2018
Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Pawel (The Crusades of Cesar Chavez) continues to explore the California political landscape with this well-written and deeply researched dual biography of the late Pat Brown, the state’s governor from 1959 to 1967, and his son Jerry Brown, who was governor from 1975 to 1983 and reelected in 2011. The senior Brown is fairly described as a traditional politician whose career had a traditional trajectory, while son Jerry—called “Governor Moonbeam” by a Chicago newspaper columnist—is anything but: in addition to a peripatetic political career that included three runs at the Democratic presidential nomination, a term as California’s attorney general, and time as the mayor of Oakland, Calif., Jerry’s personal history involved formative years as a novice in a Jesuit seminary and a serious investigation of Buddhism. Pawel returns again and again to the connection between Pat and Jerry, who were respectful and tender toward one another despite their differences. She also underscores the powerful influence of women—specifically Bernice Brown, Pat’s wife of 66 years and Jerry’s mother; Anne Gust Brown, whom Jerry married late in life; and Jerry’s sister Kathleen, who made her own run at California’s governorship in 1994—in the two men’s lives. The backdrop for all of this is the rich history of California, illuminated with small historical details that are a testament to Pawel’s research. In her capable hands, readers will find the Browns and California captivating subjects. Agent: Gloria Loomis, Watkins Loomis.

September 1, 2018

With previous works under her belt about Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Pawel (The Crusades of Cesar Chavez) now turns her attention to California's prominent Brown family. While many other family members are discussed, the book focuses heavily on the father-son duo who would both become the state's governor--Pat and Jerry Brown. Starting from when the different branches of the Irish-German Catholic clan immigrated to the United States--and, subsequently, California--this book follows the rise and fall (and second rise, with Jerry) of the Browns' political fortunes. While clearly sympathetic to the Browns, Pawel is not an apologist for some of their less-popular actions or less-effective policies. She notes both the good and the bad, which makes for a refreshing read. VERDICT Well researched, with an extensive bibliography of primary sources, this work will appeal to both scholarly and armchair historians, as well as readers with an interest in contemporary politics, California history, modern history, family history, and biography.--Crystal Goldman, Univ. of California, San Diego Lib.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2018
A vivid portrait of California's land and people emerges from a sympathetic family biography.Drawing on interviews, oral histories, and extensive archival sources, journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning editor Pawel (The Crusades of Cesar Chavez: A Biography, 2014, etc.) examines California's colorful, dramatic, and turbulent history through her biography of the ambitious and influential Browns, a family indelibly involved in the state's fortunes since 1951, when Edmund G. "Pat" Brown (1905-1996) was sworn in as California's attorney general. A few years later, as he considered running for governor, he extolled his great state: "To think that I will have some part, good or bad, in shaping its destiny is sobering." A gregarious politician whose style of campaigning, his wife said, was "low comedy," in 1959 Brown succeeded in becoming California's 32nd governor, overseeing a period of exuberant economic and population expansion. His son, Jerry, however, seemed uninterested in following in his father's footsteps; instead, he entered a Jesuit seminary to study for the priesthood, which he saw as "a path to public service--and an alternative to the commercial politics of his father's world." Yet after a few years, bristling against the mandate of "obedience to dogma" that quashed "his inquiring mind and spirit," he renounced his calling. Politics inevitably drew him: After law school, he won a seat on the Los Angeles school board; a year and a half later, he won election as secretary of state. In 1975 he became the 34th--and youngest--governor of California. Although Pawel chronicles the political career of Pat Brown's daughter Kathleen, who served as California State Treasurer, Jerry takes center stage for much of the book, as the author recounts his "refreshing" candor and unconventional leadership during his first two terms as governor, earning him the epithet of "Governor Moonbeam"; his years of soul-searching and recalibration after he was defeated in tries for the presidency; his return as defiant and spirited mayor of Oakland and, in 2010, to statewide power as California's 39th--and oldest--governor.A well-informed history of a powerful dynasty.

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.