Set apart by its founding mission to be an engine of upward mobility, the University of California system - constitutionally independent, a public trust - is a great American experiment that has endured through fraught battles over access, funding, and leadership and the looming crisis in education. The University has been at the nexus of nearly every public policy decision and social movement in the Golden State since the Civil War, from affirmative action to immigration to student protests. California Dreams narrates the UC’s rise and resilience through the lens of those whose lives it has transformed - in particular, five pioneering graduates whose diverse paths underscore why, though imperfectly so, the UC remains, in the words of Joan Didion, “California’s best idea of itself.” At a time of staggering inequality and uncertainty, as higher education faces unprecedented threats, that role has never been more crucial - or more difficult.