Delta Reading List

The Delta has inspired volumes of fiction and non-fiction. Here are some works you might want to explore! To suggest additions to the list, please email book title, author and year published to submit@delta.ca.gov.

Instructions for the Table

• Click on the title of the book to go to a description.
• Use the search box above the table to filter the list – it will capture titles that include your search term in any column.
• Use the up and down arrows at the top of each column to sort columns in alphabetical or reverse alphabetical order.
• List defaults to 10 titles at a time, but you can use the control above the table to expand that.

Skip to list of descriptions for fiction, nonfiction and the Images of America series.

FICTION

A Fairer Paradise: California River Delta Stories, Randall Marcus Gutierrez, 2012
In the 1930’s, the California Delta provides a haven for people and incidents during the Great Depression and Prohibition. A man and his son rescue a duckling entangled in the waters of Steamboat Slough. Ronny, a San Francisco resident recently separated from his family, and Michela, his lover, experience a gala event at the Ryde Hotel, meeting couples with intriguing personalities engaging in the drink, dance and conflicts of the age. Tony and Paul, young Italian brothers from the town of Pittsburg, ride on the Delta River Road destined for a “house of ill repute” in the small Chinese immigrant town of Locke, struggling with their moral obligations during their journey. A woman, emotionally distraught, suffers from a tragic incident in Hollywood and flees to safety on the steamboat Delta King. And Puy, the legendary god of Mt. Diablo, is worshiped by Diego, a man living in the Delta with his sister and nephew, and, after decades fruitlessly searching for Puy in his annual trip to Mt. Diablo, attempts his last climb to the summit to prove Puy’s existence. Interesting stories of people living and experiencing life in a variety of ethnic, social and religious sects in California’s river delta. (Back to list)

Fat City, Leonard Gardner, 1969
Set in the small-time boxing circuit of Stockton, California, in the late 1950s, the novel concerns the revival of a semi-retired Billy Tully’s career and the first fights of a novice, Ernie Munger. The book is widely considered a classic of boxing fiction. (Back to list)

In the Shadow of Diablo: Beneath the Tangled Vines, Dan Hanel, 2002
The Great Quake of 1906 left San Francisco in ruins. The destruction not only paralyzed the city, it also devastated California’s burgeoning wine industry as more than two dozen of downtown San Francisco’s wine warehouses burned to the ground. Vowing to rebuild, the California Wine Association settled on Contra Costa County’s western shore as the new home for Winehaven ― the largest winery in the world. Presently, newlyweds Harrison and Celeste also find themselves drawn into exploring the county’s historic wine industry through a mysterious bottle, a cryptic note, and an ancient Chinese bone box. As the two teachers investigate one family’s mystery and its possible connection to a hidden fortune, it soon becomes clear that there are dark secrets hidden beneath the tangled vines of the past. (Back to list)

In The Shadow of Diablo: Death at the Healing Waters, Dan Hanel, 2015
When foreign language teacher Celeste Scott is asked by police to help translate a strange note found on a mummified corpse, she and science teacher Harrison Barrett are drawn into the intriguing history of the Byron Hot Springs Resort. Their present-day mystery alternates with the desperate journey of Baron Leopold von Haas, who flees post-World War I Austria and winds up at the famous resort, a half-a-world away. Harrison and Celeste uncover a web of clues spanning the gruesome death of Charles the Bold in 1477 France to a covert World War II interrogation center in California. Meanwhile, in order to return to his family, Baron von Haas must reveal his secret to one of the resort’s many fabled guests including Fatty Arbuckle, Lefty O’Doul, and the renowned sugar baron, Adolph Spreckels. (Back to list)

In The Shadow of Diablo: Mystery of the Great Stone House, Dan Hanel, 2012
The story alternates between a local teacher’s present day adventure and the historical accounts of the brutal murder of Dr. John Marsh, one of the most important figures in California history. Harrison Barrett is a Brentwood science teacher who is compelled to investigate the sudden and tragic suicide of one of his high school students. Along with colleague Celeste Scott, Harrison finds himself engulfed in the legend of a hidden treasure and entwined with the real-life tale of a distraught son – Charles Marsh, whose father was slain 150 years prior. Past and present are linked as Charles seeks justice and Harrison searches for answers. (Back to list)

Pear Season: A Collection of Short Stories, Sally Small, 2013
These short stories chronicle a family’s life in the Sacramento Delta, a flat expanse of tangled waterways and islands in California’s Central Valley. It is a farming life of hopeful springs, backbreaking summers in the orchards and golden autumns, a time for fishing, duck hunting and raising children. Pressures from urbanization and water users in more populated parts of the state are conspiring to drain the water from the Sacramento River and its fragile waterways. The cowboys, taco truck owners, hunters, pear pickers and pot farmers who populate these stories show that it is more than water that the Delta is losing. It is a way of life. (Back to list)

Run, River, Joan Didion, 1963
Run, River is set in the Sacramento Valley, California. It tells the story of Everett McClellan’s marriage to Lily Knight. The story takes as its point of departure Everett’s murder of Ryder Charming, one of Lily’s lovers; we are made to understand that the history of the McClellan and Knight families, who seem to have lived in an indolent splendour in the Valley since the nineteenth century, has led remorselessly to this fatal incident. The narrative regresses in time to return again, at the end, to the moment of the murder. (Back to list)

Tales of the Fish Patrol, Jack London, 1905
An “oyster pirate” on San Francisco Bay as a teenager, Jack London sailed his sloop, the Razzle Dazzle, in nightly raids on oyster beds. Selling the oysters, the next morning on the Oakland docks made him more money than he ever made in the factories. He became known as the “Prince of the Oyster Pirates.” Shortly thereafter, he joined the Fish Patrol to enforce the laws. The short stories in this book reflect that short but adventurous career on the bay. (Back to list)

Two Sloughs, Sally Small, 2008
A young elementary school principal grapples with the problems of a small river town just after the Second World War. The Sacramento River plays a major role in this novel. The town’s inhabitants: a mixed bag of descendants of the Chinese who built the levees, itinerant “Okies,” Japanese farmers just returned from relocation camps and local farmers, have all survived the war, more or less. The future looks wide open. Miss Jean Hardy is nobody’s fool, but she has met her match in 11-year-old Lionel. Her dream of winning the State Band Competition against larger, richer schools that have uniforms and shiny new instruments unites the town and leads to an unexpected love story and heartwarming consequences. (Back to list)

Water Ghosts (originally titled Locke 1928), Shawna Yang Ryan, 2007
Explores the rippling effects of an inhumane immigration policy on the inhabitants of one small town. Seamlessly marrying ancient Chinese mythology and a buried chapter of American history, Shawna Yang Ryan announces herself with a masterful debut that marks her as a writer to watch. (Back to list)

NONFICTION

Around Crockett, James V. Easterday, Daniella M. Easterday, 2008
The territory around Crockett may seem little more than a nook along the Carquinez Strait in West Contra Costa County, but it was once home to many small towns. (Back to list)

The Benicia State Capitol, Dr. James Lessenger, 2019
Lessenger provides an inside look at the politics at play in the fledgling Golden State and their effect on the ambitions of Benicia. (Back to list)

Bitter Melon: Inside America’s Last Rural Chinese Town, Jeff Gillenkirk, James Motlow, 1993
With vivid historical and contemporary photographs and poignant oral histories with the residents of Locke, Bitter Melon tells the largely forgotten story of the Chinese pioneers who came to California during the time of the Exclusion Act. (Back to list)

Building the Benicia-Martinez Bridge, Robinson, John V., 2007
The summer of 2007 marked the opening of the new Benicia-Martinez Bridge that spans the eastern end of the Carquinez Strait between Solano and Contra Costa Counties. Building the Benicia-Martinez Bridge traces the history of the existing bridges and documents the construction of the new bridge built by Kiewit Pacific Company. Author and photographer John V. Robinson documents how the construction team overcame challenging engineering and environmental obstacles and successfully steered the project from design to completion. This book provides a tribute to the engineers who solved the technical problems and the workers who labored to make the bridge a reality. (Back to list)

Carquinez Bridge: 1927-2007, John V. Robinson, 2016
In this book John V. Robinson takes readers on a photographic journey through time as he documents the birth, life, and death of one of America’s great bridges. (Back to list)

Dawdling on the Delta, Hal Schell, 1979
Provides detailed information about the Delta, including maps, charts, and photos, helping readers navigate the waterways and understand the geography. The book is aimed at boaters and anyone interested in the California Delta, offering insights into its unique features and attractions. (Back to list)

Delta Stories, Sacramento River Delta Historical Society, 2025 (Back to list)

East Contra Costa County, Carol Jensen, East Contra Costa Historical Society, 2007
This sentimental history of the communities of Brentwood, Bethel Island, Byron, Discovery Bay, Knightsen, and Oakley reveals the importance of these California Delta communities in settling and developing the Golden State.  (Back to list)

Ghost Stories from the San Joaquin Delta: Mystery, History and the Unexplained, Carol A. Jensen, 2021
Ghost Stories from the San Joaquin Delta provides an introduction to local history through stories that reflect our culture and identity. (Back to list)

Imagining the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta: An Anthology of Voices Across Centuries, Robert R. Benedetti, 2022
Responding to trends throughout California, this anthology chronicles unique voices from Delta inhabitants across generations. (Back to list)

King and Queen of the River: The Legendary Paddle-Wheel Steamboats Delta King and Delta Queen, Garvey, Stan, 2002
From their birth in the Roaring Twenties, the Delta King and Delta Queen paddle-wheel steamboats battled against the odds. As a legendary royal pair, these monarchs of the river ran each night between San Francisco and Sacramento from 1927 to 1940. This rousing true story written by Stan Garvey, a noted Bay Area historian and writer, captures the romance, struggle, and adventure of California’s last and most revered paddle-wheel steamers. (Back to list)

Little Manila is in the Heart: The Making of the Filipina/o American Community in Stockton, California, Dawn Bohulano Mabalon, 2013
Narrating a history spanning much of the twentieth century, Dawn Bohulano Mabalon traces the growth of Stockton’s Filipina/o American community, the birth and eventual destruction of Little Manila, and recent efforts to remember and preserve it. Mabalon draws on oral histories, newspapers, photographs, personal archives, and her own family’s history in Stockton. (Back to list)

Looking Back: Tales of Old Antioch and Other Places, Hohlmayer, Earl, 1991
This is the first book in historian Earl Hohlmayer’s “Looking Back” series. The book, which features hundreds of photographs, details the founding of Antioch and its early history, including the story of its christening on July 4, 1851, a scene depicted in a historical mural in the city’s downtown. (Back to list)

Lower Georgia Street: California’s Forgotten Barbary Coast, Brendan Riley, 2017
This was the city’s original business zone, but over time the grocery stores, clothing shops and offices for doctors and lawyers were replaced by brightly lit joints that appealed to the sailors. (Back to list)

Oakley Through Time, Carol A Jensen, East Contra Costa Historical Society, 2019
Presented here in vintage photographs from important state and local historical society archives is the evolving and endearing community of Oakley. (Back to list)

Prohibition in Sacramento: Moralizers & Bootleggers in the Wettest City in the Nation, Annette Kassis, 2014
Sacramento’s open opposition to Prohibition and ties to rumrunning up and down the California coast caused some to label the capital “the wettest city in the nation.” The era from World War I until the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment brought Sacramento storied institutions like Mather Field and delightful surprises like a thriving film industry, but it wasn’t all pretty. The Ku Klux Klan, ethnic immigrant hatred and open hostility toward Catholics and Jews were dark chapters in the Prohibition era as Sacramento began to shape its modern identity. Join historian Annette Kassis on an exploration of this wet – and dry – snapshot of the River City. (Back to list)

Sweet Success: How Industry, Immigrants, and Working Women Shaped a Town, Barbara Pagni Denton, 2024
Sweet Success is a vivid narrative of a California company town – Crockett – as it evolved in the 20th century. It weaves a rich tapestry of Italian immigrants, women, and industry, forging a vital community. Crockett succeeded more than most, leaving a legacy of stories and vintage cake recipes. (Back to list)

This Bitter Sweet Soil: The Chinese in California Agriculture, 1860-1910, Sucheng Chan, 1986
Based on prodigious research, this book chronicles the activities of the thousands of Chinese agricultural pioneers and entrepreneurs who helped make California the nation’s premier agricultural state. (Back to list)

Vanishing Vallejo: Random History Notes on a Northern California Town, Brendan Riley, 2022
This book focuses on the colorful and fascinating history of Vallejo, a shipyard town just north of San Francisco. (Back to list)

The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, Maxine Hong Kingston, 1976
As a girl, Kingston lives in two confounding worlds: the California to which her parents have immigrated and the China of her mother’s “talk stories.” The fierce and wily women warriors of her mother’s tales clash jarringly with the harsh reality of female oppression out of which they come. Kingston’s sense of self emerges in the mystifying gaps in these stories, which she learns to fill with stories of her own. A warrior of words, she forges fractured myths and memories into an incandescent whole, achieving a new understanding of her family’s past and her own present. (Back to list)

IMAGES OF AMERICA SERIES

Images of America: African Americans in Vallejo, Sharon McGriff-Payne, 2012
African Americans in Vallejo chronicles a proud and often complicated journey. (Back to list)

Images of America: Antioch, Antioch Historical Society, 2005
When the first settlers arrived here in 1850, they could never have guessed that their tiny settlement would one day be home to over 100,000 souls, scores of factories, and the gateway to the California Delta with some of the most productive agricultural lands in the world. In earlier days, the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers were the main routes into the state’s interior, as the swampy delta land had yet to be tamed. Antioch and nearby Pittsburg served as major depots for supplies to the Sierra gold fields, stockpiling lumber, produce, hay, dry goods, medicine, and fuel from the Stewartville, Empire, and Judsonville coal mines. Named in 1851 after the biblical city in Syria, this town served for many years as the Bay Area’s easternmost outpost and provided its inhabitants with a bounty both man-made and natural. (Back to list)

Images of America: Bay Point, Dean L. McCleod, 2005
Bay Point is a residential and business destination, home to tens of thousands of people, as well as high-profile corporations. (Back to list)

Images of America: Benicia, Benicia Historical Museum, 2004
A special Bay light falls on beautiful Benicia, on the north shore of the Carquinez Strait. (Back to list)

Images of America: Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve, Traci Parent and Karen Terhune, 2009
From the 1860s to the turn of the 20th century, the Mount Diablo Coal Field was the largest coal-producing region in California and once boasted five thriving communities. With the decline of coal mining some residents turned to ranching. Later rich deposits of sand were mined for glass and foundry use. In 1973, the East Bay Regional Park District acquired the land. Today visitors to Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve, located 45 miles east of San Francisco, can explore miles of trails, tour the Hazel-Atlas silica sand mine, and visit historic Rose Hill Cemetery. Drawing mainly from the vast collection of the preserve’s photographs, Traci Parent and Karen Terhune have assembled this compelling pictorial history. (Back to list)

Images of America: Brentwood, Carol Jensen, East Contra Costa Historical Society, 2023
The beautiful Brentwood area of Contra Costa County is the oldest continuously populated community in inland California. (Back to list)

Images of America: Byron Hot Springs, Carol A. Jensen, East Contra Costa Historical Society, 2006
Byron Hot Springs is sometimes called the “Carlsbad of the West,” after the famed European health spas. The resort hosted the famous, the wealthy, the infirm, and the curious alike during the early 20th century. The 160-acre property, in eastern Contra Costa County near the San Joaquin River, featured three grand hotels designed by renowned San Francisco architect James Reid. Amidst this stylish backdrop were prominent guests in 19th-century finery, early Hollywood royalty, Prohibition entertainments, mineral water “cures” for various ailments, and secret interrogations of World War II POWs (when it was known as “Camp Tracy”). Aside from the hot springs themselves, the resort boasts one of the oldest golf courses in the western United States. (Back to list)

Images of America: Crockett, John V. Robinson, 2004
The small town of Crockett rests on the shore of the Carquinez Strait, a narrow shipping waterway running from San Francisco Bay into the Sacramento Delta region. (Back to list)

Images of America: Filipinos in Vallejo, Mel Orpilla, 2005
Filipinos came to Vallejo as early as 1912, and some families here can count five generations back to their roots in the Philippines. (Back to list)

Images of America: Hercules, Jennifer Posedel, Stephen Lawton, 2011
Hercules chronicles the city’s industrial past and a vanishing way of life. (Back to list)

Images of America: Isleton, Bruce Crawford, 2003
In the heart of the Delta, between the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, the small town of Isleton boasts a fascinating history. Built primarily by farmers who found the reclaimed marshland perfect for their agricultural endeavors, the community also became a center for Chinese customs and life when immigrants began to establish themselves in the area in the 1860s. The Chinese were soon followed by other ethnic groups, including Japanese, Filipino, Portuguese, and others who joined them in farming the land, working in the canneries, and raising their families. Though much smaller today than at its peak just prior to World War II, Isleton has made great efforts to preserve its unique character, and today many of its structures are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (Back to list)

Images of America: Locke and the Sacramento Delta Chinatowns, Lawrence Tom, Brian Tom, 2013
Chinese pioneers in the Sacramento River Delta were the vital factor in reclaiming land and made significant contributions to California’s agricultural industry from faming to canning. (Back to list)

Images of America: Maritime Contra Costa County, Carol A. Jensen, East Contra Costa Historical Society, 2014
San Francisco’s “opposite shore” is showcased for its maritime role in securing the city’s financial preeminence. (Back to list)

Images of America: Martinez, Martinez Historical Museum, 2004
From the Gold Rush to the thriving industries of today, Martinez has remained the governmental and transportation center of the region. (Back to list)

Images of America: Pittsburg, Marti Ariello, 2004
Situated at the far reaches of the Bay Area, Pittsburg has long been perceived as a commuter town, an out-of-the-way bedroom community. Yet this city has a rich and varied history stretching back to the early days of statehood and has played an important role in commerce, both to the state and to the Bay Area. Before long the burgeoning city had a fishing industry rivaling that of San Francisco’s famed Fisherman’s Wharf and a largely Italian fishing community. By the 1900s, a surprising number of industries set up factories along the waterfront property of Pittsburg. In 1942, the beginning of World War II brought the building of Camp Stoneman, an important departure point for many servicemen. Later, the city became known as a residential destination. Readers of this book will surely see Pittsburg in a new light as they enjoy the surprising and varied tales of the city’s previous generations. (Back to list)

Images of America: Port Chicago, Dean L. McCleod, 2007
This book traces the singular journey of a port town through the best and worst times of the 20th century. (Back to list)

Images of America: Port Costa, John V. Robinson, Veronica Crane, 2007
The wheat ships and ferryboats are gone now, but Port Costa remains a popular local tourst destination for people who wish to catch a glimpse of Contra Costa County’s historic past. (Back to list)

Images of America: Port of Sacramento, West Sacramento Historical Society, 2007
Located about 100 miles inland from the coast, Sacramento isn’t always considered a port town. (Back to list)

Images of America: Rio Vista, Philip Pezzaglia, 2005
Picturesque Rio Vista was first named Los Brazos del Rio (The Arms of the River) for its proximity to the confluence of the Sacramento River, Steamboat Slough, and Cache Slough. The river was once its reason for being, and the town’s huge wharf welcomed steamers like the New World and Eclipse that moved mail, freight, and passengers between Sacramento and San Francisco. The same river rose up to destroy the town after a massive flood in 1862. Although many decamped, a few determined survivors stayed on after the disaster and managed to secure a safer site for “New” Rio Vista, reborn as a thriving agricultural community. In the same spirit, Rio Vista incorporated as a city in December 1893, just 17 months after a fire burned most of its downtown. Now this growing city, close to luxury residential developments, sits atop the largest dry gas reserve in California. (Back to list)

Images of America: Rodeo, Jennifer Dowling, 2007
Times have changed, but the images in these pages recall Rodeo’s early years – the marina, businesses and homes, schools, civic officials, and local industry, as well as the town’s celebrations. (Back to list)

Images of America: The Benicia Arsenal, Dr. James Lessenger, Allan Gandy, 2023
The Benicia Arsenal served the US Army in the West for 117 years. (Back to list)

Images of America: The California Delta, Carol A. Jensen, Hall Schell Archives, East Contra Costa Historical Society, 2007
Over 1,000 miles of waterways lure sportsmen, boaters, and outdoor enthusiasts to the largest estuary in the western United States, surpassed nationally only by the Mississippi River Delta. For generations, the promise of lazy summer days has beckoned travelers to cruise the mighty Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. Along with vacationers, however, agricultural users and commercial vessels from around the globe share in the California Delta’s bounty. Over 23 million Californians rely on the delta watershed for drinking water, and diversions sustain the largest agricultural industry in the nation. The small towns dotting the sloughs from Collinsville to Stockton to Walnut Grove tell of a simpler time, while today’s Delta faces such challenges as wildlife-habitat restoration, water rights, housing development, and politics. Complicating these issues, aging levees throughout the low-lying region threaten a disaster of national proportions–and with that prospect, the very future of the California Delta. (Back to list)

Images of America: Towns of the Sacramento River Delta, Philip Pezzaglia, 2013
What can be considered the first major exploration of the Sacramento River, from its mouth northward, began on May 13, 1817, when Padres Duran and Abella and 20 other men under the command of Lt. Louis Antonio Argullo sailed in two launches up the river. They continued north until May 20, 1817, when they turned back. The group recorded their point of farthest exploration by carving a cross into an oak tree; some believe this point is near the present-day town of Freeport. Three decades later, Clarksburg was established, followed by Walnut Grove, Paintersville, Rio Vista, Onsibo, Freeport, Courtland, Emmaton, Isleton, Vorden, Ryde, Hood, and Locke. Each one of the settlements has its own exciting tale about its founders and the origins of the name that it was given. (Back to list)

Images of America: Vallejo, James E. Kern, Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, 2004
Founded as California’s state capital in 1850 and named for one of its preeminent native sons, the city of Vallejo has a favored location on the eastern interior of San Francisco Bay. (Back to list)

Images of America: West Sacramento, West Sacramento Historical Society, 2004
West Sacramento, in Yolo County, is just across the river from the state capital that shares part of its name. But it has a very distinct history. First called Washington, the area became an agricultural and industrial center that attracted Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, and Russian immigrants and helped to feed and supply the growing metropolis of Sacramento and surrounding counties. In 1911, the ambitious West Sacramento Land Company laid down electric rail links to downtown Sacramento and cleared the land for what they hoped would be large-scale developments and population growth. Eventually West Sacramento did grow, and in 1987 the communities of West Sacramento, Broderick, Bryte, and Southport joined together to become one of the newest incorporated cities in the state. (Back to list)