John Walton Caughey
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John Walton Caughey was an author and educator, who was considered the dean of California historians and a leading intellectual civil libertarian. A history professor at UCLA from 1930 until his retirement in 1970, Caughey wrote textbooks and scholarly articles that were so readable they became popular with mainstream readers.
His book "California," first published in 1940, was evaluated by a Times book critic at the time as "unquestionably the most important and valuable single-volume history of California ever published."
Caughey's more than 25 books also included "Los Angeles: Biography of a City," which he edited in 1976. His prolific writing included books on American and Western history as well as accounts of California. Among the books were "History of the Pacific Coast of North America" in 1938, "America Since 1763: A Survey of Its History" in 1955, and "The American West: Frontier and Region" in 1969.
In 1949 Caughey had defied the Regents of the University of California by refusing to sign a loyalty oath he considered unconstitutional. He was fired but eventually vindicated in court and reinstated. That experience started him on a new career as a civil rights activist. Together with his wife LaRee Caughey he worked to oppose the death penalty, nuclear testing, and especially racial discrimination.
In the 1960s the couple wrote a fourth-grade textbook (California's Own History) and an 8th-grade US history textbook (Land of the Free, in collaboration with Ernest R. May and John Hope Franklin), both designed to address the need to teach children the truth about some of the less glorious aspects of our history, such as internment of Japanese-Americans and Jim Crow, as well as about the labor movement, the women's movement, and other grassroots efforts for change.
His book "California," first published in 1940, was evaluated by a Times book critic at the time as "unquestionably the most important and valuable single-volume history of California ever published."
Caughey's more than 25 books also included "Los Angeles: Biography of a City," which he edited in 1976. His prolific writing included books on American and Western history as well as accounts of California. Among the books were "History of the Pacific Coast of North America" in 1938, "America Since 1763: A Survey of Its History" in 1955, and "The American West: Frontier and Region" in 1969.
In 1949 Caughey had defied the Regents of the University of California by refusing to sign a loyalty oath he considered unconstitutional. He was fired but eventually vindicated in court and reinstated. That experience started him on a new career as a civil rights activist. Together with his wife LaRee Caughey he worked to oppose the death penalty, nuclear testing, and especially racial discrimination.
In the 1960s the couple wrote a fourth-grade textbook (California's Own History) and an 8th-grade US history textbook (Land of the Free, in collaboration with Ernest R. May and John Hope Franklin), both designed to address the need to teach children the truth about some of the less glorious aspects of our history, such as internment of Japanese-Americans and Jim Crow, as well as about the labor movement, the women's movement, and other grassroots efforts for change.
Books By John Walton Caughey
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