Images of Amer­i­ca

by Dean Mcleod
2007, Arca­dia Pub­lish­ing
ISBN-10: 0738555517
ISBN-13: 978–0738555515
128 pages

Book Descrip­tion
Port Chica­go was an all-Amer­i­can town and naval facil­i­ty. Forged at the begin­ning of the 20th cen­tu­ry on Suisun Bay in Con­tra Cos­ta Coun­ty, the navy town met its end dur­ing the Viet­nam War, when it was sac­ri­ficed to pre­serve nation­al secu­ri­ty. Port Chica­go was a place where no one locked their doors. It was a place of fam­i­ly, edu­ca­tion, and religion—and of parades and patri­o­tism. When the town was built, near­ly every­one who lived there was from some­where else. But between 1908 and 1968, the res­i­dents cre­at­ed a close-knit com­mu­ni­ty, which, despite the dis­so­lu­tion of the town through emi­nent-domain pro­ceed­ings, still sur­vives today. Start­ing with the port’s ear­ly days, con­tin­u­ing through the dis­as­trous and mys­te­ri­ous explo­sion and sub­se­quent mutinies in 1944, and end­ing with rumors of nuclear weapons and the con­tro­ver­sial 1960s, this book traces the sin­gu­lar jour­ney of a port town through the best and worst times of the 20th cen­tu­ry.

About the Author
Author Dean L. McLeod pre­vi­ous­ly authored Arcadia’s Images of Amer­i­ca: Bay Point. He has stud­ied the land and peo­ple around Port Chica­go for more than 15 years, and presents here a vol­ume of vin­tage pho­tog­ra­phy col­lect­ed from the Nation­al Archives, the U.S. Navy, and numer­ous local col­lec­tions.

THIS BOOK IS IN PRINT. Avail­able com­mer­cial­ly. Learn more about Dean Mcleod.