Jim Gregory Bücher

On December 7, 1941, war came to Arroyo Grande when two local sailors were killed on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. People from the small town were thrust into great circumstances and quickly answered the call for action. A local storekeeper's son won the Silver Star after he brought his flaming B-17 safely back to base. A valley farmworker served with the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team, largely composed of soldiers of Japanese descent. Chinese guerrillas commanded by Mao Zedong--the future Chairman Mao--threw a birthday party for an Arroyo Grande soldier. At home, community groups like the Arroyo Grande Women's Club brought packed lunches for their Japanese American neighbors on the morning they were forced to leave for the internment camps. Local author Jim Gregory brings to life the sorrows and triumphs of a dramatic period in local history.

Jim Gregory, a thirty-year veteran of teaching high school history, shares the insights, experiences and the formative influences from his upbringing in rural Arroyo Grande, California and from his time in the classroom. Gregory addresses local and national history, teaching and learning, immigration and war and the richness of a life spent in a place marked by multicultural influences and a rich history. Gregory's mix of humor and passion reveals stories about field workers, war heroes, horsewomen, wildlife--including the beaver colony he encountered as a boy while trout fishing--and new takes on Hollywood classics, immigrant cuisine, American literature and on the tragedy of American combat. Common threads in the collection include the joy Gregory derived in teaching teenagers and his choice of subjects--Americans, both famous and relatively unknown, who evince courage, integrity and compassion for others. Finally , the book demonstrates Gregory's lifelong love for language, for writing and for telling good stories well.

Set in the tumultuous 1850s, the narrative explores the lawlessness of San Luis Obispo County, where outlaws like the James brothers and Al Capone roamed the El Camino Real, leaving chaos in their wake. Despite the establishment of a vigilante committee and executions aimed at curbing crime, notorious figures continued to thrive in this rugged frontier. Jim Gregory uncovers the dark history and forgotten tales of crime and law enforcement in this captivating account of California's wild past.