Kevin Starr facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kevin Starr
Born	Kevin Owen Starr (1940-09-03)September 3, 1940 San Francisco, California, US
Died	January 14, 2017(2017-01-14) (aged 76) San Francisco, California, US
Education	University of San Francisco (B.A. 1962); Harvard (M.S. 1965; PhD 1969); U.C. Berkeley (M.S. 1974)
Occupation	Historian, author, professor, librarian
Known for	Writings on California history
Spouse(s)	Sheila Gordon (1963–his death)
Children	2
Awards	California Hall of Fame; National Humanities Medal; Los Angeles Times Book Prize

Kevin Owen Starr (born September 3, 1940 – died January 14, 2017) was an American historian and state librarian for California. He is famous for writing many books about the history of California. This collection of books is called "Americans and the California Dream."

Kevin Starr had a tough childhood with little money. But he worked hard and earned degrees from several universities. He studied history and literature. Starting in 1973, Starr wrote nine books about California's past. He also taught at many universities across California. From 1989 until he passed away in 2017, he was a professor at the University of Southern California.

From 1994 to 2004, Starr served as California's state librarian. He kept writing about California's history throughout his life. He received important awards like a Guggenheim Fellowship and the National Humanities Medal. In 2010, he was even added to the California Hall of Fame.

Kevin Starr's Early Life and School

Kevin Starr was born in San Francisco, California, on September 3, 1940. His father, Owen Starr, was a machinist, and his mother, Marian Starr, was a bank teller. Kevin was a seventh-generation Californian, meaning his family had lived in California for a very long time.

When Kevin was young, his parents divorced. At age six, his mother became very ill. Kevin and his younger brother, James, then lived in a Catholic orphanage in Ukiah for five years. Later, they reunited with their mother and lived in a public housing project in San Francisco. They relied on welfare to get by. Kevin went to St. Boniface School in the Tenderloin area of San Francisco.

He later attended the University of San Francisco, a Jesuit school. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1962. While there, he was the editor of the school newspaper, The Foghorn. After college, he joined the United States Army as an armor officer. He served for two years as a lieutenant in West Germany. After his military service, Starr went to Harvard University. He earned a master's degree in English in 1965 and a Ph.D. in American literature in 1969. He then began teaching English at Harvard from 1969 to 1973 before moving back to California.

Kevin Starr's Career and Contributions

In 1973, Kevin Starr became an assistant and speechwriter for San Francisco mayor Joseph Alioto. He was also named the city librarian. During this time, he earned another master's degree in library science from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1974.

Starting in 1973, Starr wrote nine books about California's history. Eight of these books are part of his famous series, Americans and the California Dream. He first got the idea to write about California's history while looking through books at Harvard University.

From 1974 to 1989, he taught at many California universities. These included UC Berkeley, University of Southern California, and Stanford University. He also wrote columns for the San Francisco Examiner newspaper. He even worked as a reporter for Hearst Newspapers, covering the elections of Popes John Paul I and John Paul II in 1978.

In 1989, Starr became a professor at the University of Southern California. He taught about urban planning and history. In 1998, he was given the special title of University Professor.

Governor Pete Wilson appointed Starr to be California's state librarian. He held this important job from 1994 to 2004. Later, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger named him State Librarian Emeritus. As state librarian, Starr helped manage $350 million for building local libraries. This money came after voters approved a statewide library measure in 2000. When he was a child, Starr had to read the newspaper to his father, who had trouble seeing. This experience led him to create a service for visually impaired people. They could call a phone number and connect with someone who would read the news to them.

Greg Lucas, another California state librarian, said Starr was "truly, one of a kind." He added that no other historian could capture California's special spirit and make its history so exciting. Starr's library assistant, Mattie Taormina, said that Starr "made you excited to be a Californian."

Starr's multi-volume history of California is called "Americans and the California Dream." The first book in the series, Americans and the California Dream, 1850–1915, came out in 1973. The last book, Golden Dreams: California in an Age of Abundance, covered the years from 1950 to 1963. This book won the 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for history.

Awards and Special Honors

Kevin Starr received many awards for his writing. He won a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Gold Medal from the Commonwealth Club of California.

In 2006, he became a member of the College of Fellows at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. Also in 2006, President George W. Bush gave him the National Humanities Medal. This award recognized his important work as a scholar and historian. In 2010, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver inducted Starr into the California Hall of Fame.

The famous composer John Adams was inspired by Starr's "Dream" series of books. He wrote a music piece called City Noir in 2009. Starr also received The Robert Kirsch Award from the Los Angeles Times in 2012.

Kevin Starr's Passing

Kevin Starr passed away from a heart attack in San Francisco on January 14, 2017.

Kevin Starr's Published Works

• Land's End (a novel) (1979) ISBN: 0-07-060880-6
• Americans and the California Dream, 1850–1915. (1973 and 1986) New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 494. ISBN: 978-0195016444 (1986)
• Inventing the Dream: California through the Progressive Era (1985) ISBN: 0-19-503489-9
• Material Dreams: Southern California through the 1920s (1990) ISBN: 0-19-504487-8
• Endangered Dreams: The Great Depression in California (1996) ISBN: 0-19-510080-8
• The Dream Endures: California Enters the 1940s (1997) ISBN: 0-19-510079-4
• "Sunset Magazine and the Phenomenon of the Far West". Sunset magazine: a century of Western living, 1898–1998. Stanford University Libraries. 1998. ISBN 978-0-911221-17-6. http://sunset-magazine.stanford.edu/html/influences_1.html.
• Embattled Dreams: California in War and Peace, 1940–1950 (2002) ISBN: 0-19-512437-5
• Coast Of Dreams: California on the Edge, 1990–2003 (2004) ISBN: 0-679-41288-3
• California: a history. Random House. 2005. ISBN 978-0-679-64240-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=-IXp7of_QxIC.
• Golden dreams: California in an age of abundance, 1950–1963. Oxford University Press US. July 2009. ISBN 978-0-19-515377-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=ZWy4TexzsScC.
• Golden Gate: The Life and Times of America's Greatest Bridge. Bloomsbury USA. 24 April 2012. ISBN 9781596915343. https://books.google.com/books?id=mIdppwAACAAJ.
• Continental Ambitions: Roman Catholics in North America: the Colonial Experience. (2016) Ignatius Press; Sewn edition. pp. 675. ISBN: 978-1621641186