HISTORY CENTER BOOKSTORE

Purchasing from our bookstore helps fund activities of the Guild.
All items subject to sales tax. 10% member discount. E-Mail for ship costs.
Arrange local pick-up (no ship cost) during museum hours.
Bookstore is in former Carnegie Library, 2155 Third Street, lhg@lhg.org
Thank you for your support!

RECENT ARRIVALS BY LOCAL HISTORIANS

Hagemann Ranch: A History

By John W. Shaffer (2023)

Today, the Hagemann Ranch preserves the last remnant of a farm economy that dominated the Livermore Valley for over a century. While farm buildings and machinery provide a glimpse into that past, no history of the Ranch would be complete without the stories of the men and women who worked it. The Mendenhalls, Luders and Hagemanns were pioneers and immigrants who shaped the ranch and were shaped by it. - $15.42

Livermore: The Movie

By Team Raney and Spectacular Opticals (2002)

What happens when the home of the nation's top nuclear research laboratory can't unearth a simple time capsule?
When Rachel Raney and David Murray set out to create a film on suburban sprawl and the rise of "McTowns," they never imagined the stories they'd find. The result is Livermore, part documentary, part fairytale, part mystery, and mostly comedy: a portrait of a formerly bucolic suburb threatened by rapid growth and change and the handful of eccentric old-timers struggling to hold on to what makes their piece of small-town America unique.
As the filmmakers trained their camera on the town's populace, a treasure trove of long-forgotten tales came tumbling forth. The year was 1969, and Livermore, California - an eclectic mix of ranchers, newly arrived nuclear physicists, and suburbanites - was celebrating its 100th anniversary while adjusting to a booming population increase. Flush with town pride, civic leaders buried a Centennial Time Capsule, but no one could find the burial spot when it was time to uncover the capsule thirty years later. How can a town with one of the nation's top nuclear research laboratories "misplace" a simple metal box? As Rachel Raney says, "it seemed like a powerful if subtle metaphor of a town losing its identity."
That's just the beginning of this surreal and amusing trip to a misleadingly typical Northern California town. Livermore digs deeper into collective memories and unearths a peculiar set of stories: a supernatural light bulb, a cursed totem pole, and a scandalous photo collection - local photographer Bill Owens's art-world sensation, Suburbia, based on pictures of his friends and neighbors.
When the search effort for the missing time capsule reaches a fever pitch, nuclear-strength radar, and space-age probes replace shovels and pick axes. Just as the town begins to despair, the old-timers race to the rescue. Interviews with residents such as painter Tilli Calhoun, artist Adam Fortunate Eagle Nordwall, and town historian Barry Schrader inadvertently unravel Livermore's hidden past through anecdotes, histories, and local legends. (Text: PBS) - $19.95

From Berkeley to Berlin

By Tom Ramos, LLNL Physicist (2022)

How the Rad Lab helped avert nuclear war: In November 1960, bolstered by anti-Communist ideologies, John F. Kennedy was elected president. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev brandished nuclear diplomacy to force the United States to abandon Berlin, setting the stage for a major nuclear confrontation over the fate of West Berlin. From Berkeley to Berlin explores how the United States stood up to Khrushchev's attempts to expand Soviet influence around the globe. The story begins when Ernest Lawrence created a laboratory on the Berkeley campus of the University of California. The "Rad Lab" attracted some of the finest talent in nuclear physics.
When it was discovered that Nazi Germany had the means to build an atomic bomb, Lawrence threw all his energy into waking up the American government. Ten years later, when Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union became a nuclear power, Lawrence drove his students to take on the challenge to deter a Communist despot's military ambitions. They had to overcome ridicule over three successive test failures, which led to calls to see them, and their laboratory, completely shut down. At the Nobska Conference in 1956, the Rad Lab physicists took up the daunting challenge to provide the Navy with a warhead for the submarine-launched Polaris missile.
The success of the Polaris was critical in establishing nuclear deterrent capability and helped President Kennedy stare down Khrushchev in 1961. Six months after the height of the Berlin Crisis [also called the Cuban Missile Crisis], Kennedy thought about how very close the country had come to destruction. He flew out to Berkeley to meet and thank a small group of Rad Lab physicists for helping the country avert a nuclear war.

Hardback 254 pages - Publisher $39.95 - OUR PRICE $34.99

DEPOT and PARALLEL PATHS

By Alan Frank

DEPOT: History of the Railroad in Livermore (LEFT, 2018). Livermore boomed after Mendenhall made a plat map, donated land for rails, and the trains arrived. This glossy book with high-resolution color photos describes the Railroad Depot from engineering sketches on linen cloth to it's heyday, to its abandonment, near destruction, and finally restoration back to active passenger service. $29.95
PARALLEL PATHS: A Railroad History of Livermore (RIGHT, 2022) - All new material. $19.95

Books By John Shirley, 1924 – 2021

World War II hero, Veterinarian, Livermore’s former mayor, and city councilman. He was a revered local leader for over 60 years. An interesting look into the life of a hometown hero.
I Remember: Stories of a Combat Infantryman in Italy, France and Germany in World War II and
I Remember: Stories of a Small Town Politian in Livermore CA in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

I REMEMBER: Infantry Division in WWII Europe at $15 (LEFT) .... In the second book (RIGHT), Livermore had rapid change after 1952 from ranches and vineyards. John Shirley helped guide those changes. He tells of planning: sewers and streets, Rodeo, Civic Center, and start of downtown redevelopment.
Sale! First Edition Looseleaf, Stapled, $8 ... and Bound Paperback SECOND EDITION illustrated with Livermore news clippings, $15 (Second Edition Material By Bruce Shore and Jean Otto, 2019)

Livermore Plaques

By Richard Finn and Peter Kitchingham (2021)

This glossy high-resolution color photos photobook shows every known commemorative brass plaque in Livermore plus the photo of the building or site connected to that plaque, with maps arranged by sectors of the city. This is a perfect exploring photobook to see if YOU can find all the plaques listed. 185 pages - 8.5x11 - $42.95

History and Geology of Livermore Oil

By Alan Burnham (2018)

History of oil exploration and production near Livermore from 1868 (when oil in water flowed from a hillside after an earthquake). Alan (PhD, physical chemistry) had career modeling formation and migration of petroleum. $21.99