Richard A. Walker 2008 FellowRichard A. Walker is professor of geography and chair of the California Studies Center at the University of California, Berkeley. His research is focused on economic geography, regional development; capitalism and politics; cities and urbanism; resources and environment; California; class and race.
He recently published a book on the history of California’s agricultural system, The Conquest of Bread: 150 Years of Agribusiness in California, which tells the story of how capitalism developed the California countryside into the leading agrarian production complex in the United States. Professor Walker’s most recent book concerns the creation of the San Francisco Bay Area greenbelt and the local environmental movement – The Country in the City: The Greening of the San Francisco Bay Area (University of Washington Press, 2007) narrates the many stories of land preservation, saving the bay, and fighting toxics that have made him a global bastion of environmentalism. His next book, tentatively titled City at Bay: The Making of the San Francisco-Oakland Metropolis, will recount the making of urban landscape of the Bay Area.