{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/1101910194?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"1101910194","authors":["Mark Arax"],"book_id":"9781101910191","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/the-dreamt-land-1101910194","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781101910191.jpg?v=20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-17T20%3A41%3A17Z","description":"A vivid, searching journey into California's capture of water and soil—the epic story of a people's defiance of nature and the wonders, and ruin, it has wrought Mark Arax is from a family of Central Valley farmers, a writer with deep ties to the land who has watched the battles over water intensify even as California lurches from drought to flood and back again. In The Dreamt Land, he travels the state to explore the one-of-a-kind distribution system, built in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, that is straining to keep up with California's relentless growth. The Dreamt Land weaves reportage, history and memoir to confront the \"Golden State\" myth in riveting fashion. No other chronicler of the West has so deeply delved into the empires of agriculture that drink so much of the water. The nation's biggest farmers—the nut king, grape king and citrus queen—tell their story here for the first time. Arax, the native son, is persistent and tough as he treks from desert to delta, mountain to valley. What he finds is hard earned, awe-inspiring, tragic and revelatory. In the end, his compassion for the land becomes an elegy to the dream that created California and now threatens to undo it.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9781101910191","publication_date":"20200407","publisher":"Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group","slug":"the-dreamt-land","subtitle":"Chasing Water and Dust Across California","title":"The Dreamt Land"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"HIS036140","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Western U.S. History","score":0.7836,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"NAT045010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Desert Life","score":0.7569,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036130","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Southwest U.S. History","score":0.7558,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"HIS036140","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Western U.S. History","score":0.7836,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"NAT045010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Desert Life","score":0.7569,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036130","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Southwest U.S. History","score":0.7558,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"HIS036140","confidence_band":"high","label":"Western U.S. History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"NAT038000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Natural Resources","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"POL044000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Environmental Policy","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Western U.S. History","score":0.7836,"slug":"western-u-s-history"},{"label":"Desert Life","score":0.7569,"slug":"desert-life"},{"label":"Southwest U.S. History","score":0.7558,"slug":"southwest-u-s-history"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy Western U.S. History","Good for readers interested in great","Good for readers who enjoy Western U.S. History and Desert Life."],"related_lists":[{"intro":"Books that trace the legal compacts, engineering gambles, and political fights that created the Colorado River crisis, and what comes next as reservoirs hit bottom.","slug":"cultural-currents-colorado-river-crisis-explained","title":"Who Gets The Colorado River","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/lists/cultural-currents-colorado-river-crisis-explained"}],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Craig Childs"],"book_id":"9780316067546","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780316067546.jpg?v=20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-17T20%3A41%3A17Z","score":15.9216,"title":"House of Rain","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780316067546"},{"authors":["David Owen"],"book_id":"9780735216099","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780735216099.jpg?v=20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-17T20%3A41%3A17Z","score":11.7362,"title":"Where the Water Goes","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780735216099"},{"authors":["Michael Hiltzik"],"book_id":"9780358539346","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780358539346.jpg?v=20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-17T20%3A41%3A17Z","score":11.649,"title":"Golden State","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780358539346"},{"authors":["Jack E. Davis","Jack Emerson Davis"],"book_id":"9781631494024","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781631494024.jpg?v=20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-17T20%3A41%3A17Z","score":11.5003,"title":"The Gulf","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781631494024"},{"authors":["Amy Gamerman"],"book_id":"9781982158163","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781982158163.jpg?v=20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-17T20%3A41%3A17Z","score":11.2621,"title":"The Crazies","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781982158163"},{"authors":["Paul Andrew Hutton"],"book_id":"9781524746131","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781524746131.jpg?v=20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-17T20%3A41%3A17Z","score":11.2331,"title":"The Undiscovered Country","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781524746131"},{"authors":["Eric Rutkow"],"book_id":"9781501103919","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781501103919.jpg?v=20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-17T20%3A41%3A17Z","score":11.0846,"title":"The Longest Line on the Map","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781501103919"},{"authors":["Tom Clavin","George Newbern","Macmillan Audio","& 0 more"],"book_id":"9781250214577","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781250214577.jpg?v=20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-17T20%3A41%3A17Z","score":11.0742,"title":"Follow Me to Hell","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781250214577"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:science"],"label":"Science","score":0.2945,"slug":"science"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:best"],"label":"Best","score":0.2854,"slug":"best"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:civil"],"label":"Civil","score":0.069,"slug":"civil"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:the great plains"],"label":"Great","score":0.0503,"slug":"great"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Science, Civil, Great.","Reading lane: Western U.s. History and Desert Life.","Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group."]},"llm_signals":null,"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":false,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_ratings_count":1423,"goodreads_reviews_count":239,"quality_score":0.9187}}