In the early 1870s, Hubert H. Bancroft and his assistants set out to 
record the memoirs of early Californios, one of them being eighty-three-
year-old Don José María Amador, a former "Forty-Niner" during the 
California Gold Rush and soldado de cuera at the Presidio of San 
Francisco. Amador tells of reconnoitering expeditions into the interior
of California, where he encountered local indigenous populations. He 
speaks of political events of Mexican California and the widespread 
confiscation of the Californios' goods, livestock, and properties when 
the United States took control. A friend from Mission Santa Cruz, 
Lorenzo Asisara, also describes the harsh life and mistreatment the 
Indians faced from the priests.

    Both the Amador and Asisara narratives were used as sources in 
Bancroft's writing but never published themselves. Gregorio Mora-Torres
has now rescued them from obscurity and presents their voices in 
English translation (with annotations) and in the original Spanish on 
facing pages. This bilingual edition will be of great interest to historians 
of the West, California, and Mexican American studies.

_________________________________________________________

GREGORIO MORA-TORRES received his Ph.D. in Latin American 
history from the University of California at Irvine and teaches in the 
Department of Mexican American Studies at San Jose State University.


Number Three: Al Filo: Mexican American Studies Series


What people are saying about this book

"This book presents a very convincing and interesting narrative about 
Mexican California. Its frankness and honesty are refreshing."—Richard 
Griswold del Castillo, San Diego State University