Pistachio Wars: The Origin Story

Yasha Levine's journalistic road trip tour de force into the dark heart of California that inspired the documentary Pistachio Wars.

Part history lesson, part travelogue, part angry screed against our industrial civilization — you'll never look at the Golden State the same way again. 

What began as a simple investigation into a strange water deal between a wealthy California farmer and a struggling suburb in the Mojave Desert, turned into an epic story that spanned time and space and revealed who really has the power in California. It's not Silicon Valley or even Hollywood. It's secretive farming families — some of them go back to the founding of American California and others are recent transplants, amassing empires from their Beverly Hills mansions. But new or old, one thing unites them: They own the land and they own the water. And nothing happens in California without land and water.

If you've seen Stewart and Lynda Resnick — the billionaires behind Wonderful Pistachios — going viral on the internet for hoarding all the water and wondered what their deal was...Well, this book is for you. 

Originally published as A Journey Through Oligarch Valley, this book is being re-released with a new forward.