Lands of Promise and Despair: Chronicles of Early California, 1535-1846

by Rose Marie Beebe (Editor), Robert M. Senkewicz

Western History. While the last 150 of California History, from the gold rush to the present, have been well researched and described in hundreds of books, the previous three centuries--from the first explorations of Baja California in 1533 to the Mexican-American War of 1846--are either ignored entirely or distorted by myth. LANDS OF PROMISE AND DESPAIR is a copious collection of reminiscences, reports, letters, and documents mostly by residents of early California, from the viewpoint of people who made their homes in it. This ambitious and accessible book, with maps, paintings, sketches, and early photographs, is sure to become a cornerstone in the study of California history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Anthropology

506 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2001

Reviews

[loafingcactus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is amazing! It is an arrangement of a useful and helpful introduction of 1-3 pages and then a historical text selection of 1-3 page, and on it goes for almost 500 pages.

I would love to read one over tea every morning and slowly work my way through this book. Unfortunately such reading does not suit the frenetic situation I currently find myself in, and when I am out of this situation my tea slot is already booked for the rest of the year, so this will have to be set aside, probably never to be returned to as life grows every shorter and so many books to attend to.

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This remarkable collection of historic documents illuminates the early phases of the ongoing colonization of California. From these accounts of missions, presidios, pueblos and land grants we find the emergence of the bond between race and place and the rise of white supremacy, the prison-industrial complex, and the blue print for the real estate industry with its racial covenants, redlining, exclusionary zoning, redevelopment, evictions, geographic erasure, and contemporary homelessness, displacement and resistance. And while these narratives are told by European invaders, Indigenous voices break through and put to rest the tired falsehoods of the benevolence of the Catholic missionaries or the compliance and assimilation of Native Californians. For any Californian wanting to go deeper than a general or formulaic land acknowledgement, Lands of Promise and Despair is an essential primary source.

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of primary sources from the pre-American period. Includes some of the only surviving Indian voices from the Mexican era, like that of Pablo Tac, the Luiseno who went to Rome to study for the priesthood. Though he didn't live past his 20th birthday he learned to read and write, and wrote down his detailed recollections of mission life. Also includes some harrowing stuff, like the Indians at Mission Santa Cruz who murdered a sadistic padre who was overly fond of the iron-tipped lash. Essential reading for the California history buff.

[pjr8888]

this is a textbook for my CCSF archeology course:
ANTH 22 Bay Area Archaeology
lec & field trips
Examination of the archaeological record left behind by the early Spanish, Russian and Mexican explorers and settlers in the San Francisco Bay Area. Emphasis is placed on artifacts, sites, and material culture to understand sociocultural organization and acculturation

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A moving account of the way California was when Spanish missionaries first arrived. Especially interesting for details about Santa Barbara, Ventura etc and the native populations way of life. Excerpts from Spanish letters, eye witness accounts etc