In The Seven States of California, Philip Fradkin divides California into seven distinct ecological and cultural provinces - from the hot deserts and high peaks that mirror the Southwest and the Rockies to the rain forests, the farmlands that feed a nation, the Maine-like rocky coast, the sandy beaches, and the cold steppes.

From each he selects one emblematic feature - a chain of dry lakes, and ocean inlet, an earthquake fault, a river - upon which to hang a series of linked stories about natural objects and human characters as dissimilar as Native Americans and ranchers, missile scientists and dam builders, movie actors and real estate developers.