California: The Rough Guide, Fourth Edition (4th ed. 1996)

This is the only guidebook to capture the marvelous scope of California -- a state that plays host to countless communities and cultures as it sprawls across untold climates and terrain. The Rough Guide takes you to the heart of the great cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and up-and-coming San Diego, offering critical reviews of hotels, restaurants, clubs and bars for all budgets and tastes. For outdoor enthusiasts, the book covers California's natural wonders, from Yosemite to Big Sur, the deserts and the Grand Canyon. It delivers the lowdown on all the hot sports, from mountain biking to rock climbing, surfing and more. Its detailed maps and money-saving travel tips are a boon to all visitors. There are also entertaining takes on the state's history, from the Gold Rush days through the counterculture of the 1960s and the sometimes volatile mix of lifestyles and political views today. Peeling back the paint of literature, film and other media, the Rough Guide also weighs the reality of present-day California, looking into the many scenes and subcultures and the tribulations faced by immigrant populations and much-maligned areas such as South Central LA.

Nick Edwards is a long-standing Rough Guide author who divides his time between research trips to Greece, India and California. Paul Whitfield first hitched around California in 1985 and returns numerous times to write the Rough Guide to California and Yosemite. Mark Ellwood is co-author of Rough Guides to Miami, San Francisco and Chicago. JD Dickey, a writer and filmaker spent five years living in Tinseltown exploring the movie industry.