What Made California the Golden State?: Life During the Gold Rush

Discover what life was really like during the California Gold Rush in this powerful graphic novel written by National Book Award finalist and Eisner Award-winning creator Shing Yin Khor and illustrated by Kass Gray.

Presenting Who HQ Graphic Novels: an exciting addition to the #1 New York Times best-selling Who Was? series!

Explore the Gold Rush from the perspectives of William Miller and Henry Garrison, two miners in the Sierra Nevada region, and uncover the often unrelenting conditions of the California gold mines. A story of community, determination, and the search for the American Dream, this graphic novel invites readers to immerse themselves into what life was really like during this pivotal period in American history—brought to life by gripping narrative and vivid full-color illustrations that jump off the page.

Shing Yin Khor (they/them) is the author-illustrator of The Legend of Auntie Po, the Eisner-winning and National Book Award finalist graphic novel about a young logging camp cook in the Sierra Nevada telling Paul Bunyan tales, and of The American Dream?, a graphic novel memoir about driving Route 66. They tell stories about nostalgic Americana, immigration, and new rituals. They live in Los Angeles with a small dog and a cargo van.

Kass Gray (he/him) is a freelance illustrator, cartoonist, and recent graduate from the Columbus College of Art and Design. He currently resides in Columbus, Ohio, with a very large cat called Cicero (and his human roommates). He has always had a particular penchant for history in all its forms, and loves to tell stories that capture the forgotten or seldom told lives of the past. This is Kass’s first graphic novel, and you can find more of his work online at timemachinesart.portfoliobox.net.