Outskirts Press, INC.

Giving Voice to the Voiceless

Stockton, California, is the most diverse city in the United States. This revised and enlarged second edition seeks to highlight, as the first edition also did, various groups that have often been ignored or given short shrift in the past: Native Americans, Chinese immigrants, Japanese internees, Filipino and Mexican farm workers, Sikhs, gays and lesbians, and women. The voiceless are given a voice. In light of current concerns, this second edition devotes more space to disease and pandemics in the history of Stockton, especially to the Great Influenza of 1918–1919, to endemic racism, and to police brutality. Much larger than the original edition and yet tighter, this new version contains two illustrative maps so readers can locate where important events have taken place. In many respects, this is a new book. But it remains “critical.” Shady characters, missed opportunities, and municipal pathologies are not overlooked or covered up, even while notable civic achievements and outstanding personalities are accorded due recognition.