Books can connect us with history in new and exciting ways. Each fiction and non-fiction book club series focuses on a subject that relates to the history of the Los Angeles region between 1830 and 1930. Museum staff will occasionally share items from the museum's collection that pertain to the subject of a book.

We ask that participants read the assigned book in time for each meeting.

Non-Fiction Book Club

Spring 2020: American Presidents

Friday, February 7
Friday, March 6
Friday, April 3

• 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
• Free; space is limited and advance registration is recommended. Click HERE to reserve your spot.

February 7: Unreasonable Men: Theodore Roosevelt and the Republican Rebels Who Created Progressive Politics by Michael Wolraich

March 6: Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

April 3: Warren G. Harding: The American Presidents Series: The 29th President, 1921—1923 by John W. Dean

Fiction Book Club

Spring 2020: Generations

How does history trickle down from one generation to the next? Each month we will discuss a book about a fictional family confronting their future and the legacy of their past.

Wednesday, February 19
Wednesday, March 18
Wednesday, April 15

• 7 to 9 p.m.
• Free; space is limited and advance registration is recommended. Click HERE to reserve your spot.

February 19: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

March 18: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

April 15: Show Boat by Edna Ferber

Upcoming Book Club Themes

Non-Fiction Book Club

July 10: California Women and Politics: From the Gold Rush to the Great Depression

August 7: A Woman's Crusade: Alice Paul and the Battle for the Ballet  by Mary Walton.

Fall 2020: Los Angeles

September 25: Married To A Daughter of The Land: Spanish-Mexican Women and Interethnic Marriage in California, 1820-80 by Maria Raquel Casas

October 30: American Character: The Curious Life of Charles Fletcher Lummis and the Rediscovery of the Southwest by Mark Thompson

December 4: A Bright and Guilty Place: Murder, Corruption, and L. A.’s Scandalous Coming of Age by Richard Rayner

 Fiction Book Club

Summer 2020: And Then It Got Worse...

June 17: Led to the Slaughter: The Donner Party Werewolves by Duncan McGeary

July 15: Deck Z: The Titanic: Unsinkable. Undead by Chris Pauls & Matt Solomon

August 19: Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal

Fall 2020: Literature of the Progressive Era

October 21: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (1906)  

November 18: Black Beauty by Anna Sewall (1877)

December 16: The Iron Heel by Jack London (1908)

 Past Book Club Themes

Fiction Book Club

• October 16: The Sheik (1921) by E.M. Hull
• November 20: Wanderer of the Wasteland (1923) by Zane Grey
• December 18: Twilight Sleep (1927) by Edith Wharton

Summer 2019: History Mash-Ups

• June 19: Locked Rooms: A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes by Laurie R. King
• July 17: Black Hats: A Novel of Wyatt Earp and Al Capone by Patrick Culhane
• August 21: Django/Zorro by Quentin Tarantino, Matt Wagner

Spring 2019: The Birth of Noir

• February 20: The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
• March 20: The Kept Girl by Kim Cooper
• April 17: Double Indemnity by James M. Cain

Fall 2018: WWI in Different Mediums 

• October 17: Journey's End a play by R.C. Sherriff
• November 14: Goddamn this War! a graphic novel by Jacques Tardi and Jean-Pierre Verney
• December 19: All Quiet on the Western Front a novel by Erich Maria Remareque

Summer 2018: A Fantastical Look at California 

• June 20: Kindred by Octavia Butler
• July 18: The Girl with Ghost Eyes by M.H. Boroson
• August 15: The Lonesome Gods by Louis L'Amour

Non-Fiction Book Club

Fall 2019: California & the West

• October 4: California: A History by Kevin Starr
• November 1: The Fragmented Metropolis: Los Angeles, 1850-1930 by Robert M. Fogelson
• December 6: Kearny's March: The Epic Creation of the American West: 1846-1847 by Winston Groom

Summer 2019: US History: Race, Gender, & Modernity

• June 7: Rebirth of a Nation: The Making of Modern America, 1877-1920 by Jackson Lears
• July 12: Passion and Principle: John and Jessie Fremont, the Couple Whose Power, Politics, and Love Shaped Nineteenth-Century America by Sally Denton
• August 9: Slave in a Box: The Strange Career of Aunt Jemima by Maurice M. Manring

Spring 2019: Women: Politics, Religion, Vocation

• February 1: Women of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War by Stephen B. Oates
• March 1: Seneca Falls and Origins of the Women's Rights Movement by Sally Gregory McMillen
• April 5: Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America by Matthew Avery Sutton

Fall 2018: Varied Views of Los Angeles

• October 5: Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California by Frances Dinkelspiel
• November 2: Whitewashed Adobe: The Rise of Los Angeles and the Remaking of Its Mexican Past by William Deverell
• December 7: The King and Queen of Malibu: The True Story of the Battle for Paradise by David K. Randall

Summer 2018: California's Nineteenth-Century Economy: The Big Picture

• June 1: The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream by H. W. Brands
• July 13: The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California by Richard Rayner
• August 3: River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West by Rebecca Solnit