"This is a useful book. For somebody whose training is in history, like me, there is enough substance in each chapter to make it worthwhile.... Like all Blackwell Companions, this volume is pleasant to use and handle." (Reference Reviews, 2009)

"A rich harvest of the New California History, grown to ripeness and diversity in the garden planted by Carey McWilliams and Kevin Starr."
–Mike Davis, University of California, Irvine

"In tandem with the emergence of California as a nation-state of global importance, the assessment of California – as place, people, society, culture, and history – has gone into Warp Speed. Nowhere is this more evident than in this brilliant and eminently useful Starship Enterprise of California studies by an elite crew of Next Generation experts."
–Kevin Starr, University of Southern California

"Like the best of California, the engaging essays collected in this compendium reveal – and revel in – a history of immense diversity and astonishing possibility. More than a "companion," these dazzling essays offer a friendly "field guide" to California's past (and an excellent vantage point from which to contemplate its present and future)."
–Stephen Aron, UCLA and Autry Institute for the Study of the American West