Born in the California Gold Rush, Nevada City was once the scene of some of the most destructive environmental practices on earth. By the 1960s, the town was a backwater, its extractive industries dying. Then it was discovered by the "back to the land movement." It was a second gold rush but with a different idea of gold based on nature, community and a sense of place.

A campaign to save the Yuba River from a proposed dam brought conflicting factions of the community together. Not only did they stop the dam from being built, but they began a decades long process to protect the entire watershed. They also increased local food production, developed holistic education systems, attracted world class music and art, and committed to building community.

Redefining Prosperity is recommended as a blueprint for revitalizing places that suffer from economic instability upon the decline of extractive industries. It is the remarkable story of a beautiful California town and the outward-looking, creative people who call it home and forged its new identity.