In this Anansi Digital Publication, James Laxer takes the pulse of America from the vantage point of Southern California at a time when the United States is riven with debates about immigration, guns, and how to tackle the economic crisis.

From his perch in a little cottage in wealthy La Jolla on the outskirts of San Diego, Laxer talked to local people in the winter of 2013 on the streets, in cafes, at a gun shop, onboard an aircraft carrier, outside Mitt Romney’s new monster house, and on a beach, where people and seals dispute ownership of the terrain.

Laxer explored the region and wrote a daily diary, drawing on his long experience of traveling in the United States and analyzing American issues. His best selling book, Stalking the Elephant: My Discovery of America was described by Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Boston Globe, David Shribman, as "a book by a Canadian that can change the United States." The book was by published by the New Press in New York under the title Discovering America: Travels in the Land of Guns, God and Corporate Gurus.

In Travels Through the Golden State, Laxer provides an outsider’s look at the issues that are dividing the United States in the early days of Barack Obama’s second term.