Anyone who has been to both California’s Central Valley and central Chile can attest to their similarities in climate and terrain. In Strangers on Familiar Soil, Melillo digs deeply to demonstrate the important relationship between the two places and the lasting impact—often unacknowledged—that each has had on the other.
The book knocks down myths. California and Chile, despite their claims of exceptionalism, are more connected than their leaders like to claim. Each claims an ethos of independence, but each depended on the other for development. Chileans were central to building the highly diverse California metropolis of San Francisco, which was flooded by migrants from virtually everywhere because of gold. A particular sector of the city called Chilecito, for its concentration of Chileans, even became a target for white criminals. But whites also quickly realized that Chileans knew more about mineral extraction than they did and started to copy...