Competing Voices: A Critical History of Stockton, California, is the story of a city with an incredibly rich and diverse history. For too long, Stockton has suffered from bad press. Its recent history has been marred by negative headlines, and its last general history was published way back in 1880. But in author Ronald Isetti's hands, Stockton is given its due as a major player in California and American history.

The city was integral to American victories during World Wars I and II, and for the many major motion pictures filmed in Stockton, it has been nicknamed "Hollywood North." It produced a leading female titan of industry, the famous Tomato Queen, Tillie Lewis, and has elected the youngest mayor of a large city in the United States, African American Michael Tubbs. Isetti is a native of Stockton and earned his PhD in history from the University of California, Berkeley. In Competing Voices, he combines academic standards with popular appeal, offering a bottom-up perspective of Stockton history, considering ordinary citizens who did extraordinary things and covering minority groups often ignored in the past.