The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty that Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation (Bloomsday Publishing)
Author Miriam Pawel in conversation with Scott Shafer, KQED

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and scholar Miriam Pawel weaves a narrative history that spans four generations, from August Schuckman, the Prussian immigrant who crossed the Plains in 1852 and settled on a northern California ranch, to his great-grandson Jerry Brown, who reclaimed the family homestead one hundred forty years later and twice served as California governor. Through the prism of their lives, we gain an essential understanding of California – an appreciation of the history and importance of the fifth largest economy in the world.

Miriam Pawel is the author of The Crusades of Cesar Chavez: A Biography, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, and The Union of Their Dreams – Power, Hope and Struggle in Cesar Chavez's Farm Worker Movement. She is a Pulitzer-prize winning editor and reporter who spent twenty-five years at Newsday and the Los Angeles Times. She lives in Southern California.

KQED contributor Scott Shafer migrated to KQED in 1998 after extended stints in politics and government to host The California Report. Now he covers those things and more as senior editor for KQED's Politics and Government Desk.