"In Cultivating California, Vaught shows how fruit and nut growers were neither industrialists nor agrarians. From the very outset, he explains, these "horticulturists" saw themselves as guardians of California's unique culture - raising crops for market while self-consciously building healthy and prosperous communities. The hard work, foresight, and devotion to detail required to nurture an orchard or vineyard made them, they insisted, cultivators of a better society.

This heightened self-image gained credence as California became synonymous with fresh fruit and produce for millions of Americans."--BOOK JACKET. "Over time, Vaught concludes, labor relations, market imperatives, and changing political conditions undermined the growers' horticultural ideal. Still cultural guardians in their own minds, growers would become cultural outcasts in the minds of most others - a view still prevalent today."--BOOK JACKET.