A vivid and engaging exploration of California's debt to the ancient world

Discussing the influence of the classics on America is nothing new; indeed, classical antiquity could be considered second only to Christianity as a force in modeling America's national identity. What has never been explored until now is how, from the beginning, Californians in particular chose to visually and culturally craft their new world using the rhetoric of classical antiquity.

Through a lively exploration of material culture, literature, and architecture, American Arcadia offers a tour through...