The Far Side of Eden: New Money, Old Land, and the Battle for Napa Valley

In the tradition of his New York Times bestseller, Napa, James Conaway picks up the story he began a decade ago. The Far Side of Eden offers "a fascinating look at the political side of the wine revolution that put California's Napa Valley on the world map" (Miami Herald). Now, Conaway reveals, Napa is awash in dollars generated by the boom economy and the social ambitions it inspired. The valley is beset by new arrivals determined to have vineyards of their own and by cult-wine producers in thrall to fabulously expensive "rocket juice" (cabernet sauvignon) that few locals can afford - while established families wish to hold on to the old ways, and camp followers get caught up in the glamour of it all.
Conaway, long known for his controversial, compulsively readable social reporting, here "indicts the wave of new-money millionaires from Silicon Valley, who have brought with them gaudy displays of wealth -- building so-called 'McMansions' and planting 'vanity vineyards'" (Los Angeles Times). "A cautionary tale . . . [with] a seductive pull" (San Francisco Chronicle), The Far Side of Eden takes us to the frontlines of America's ongoing conflicts over money, land, and power to tell a story that has ramifications for us all.