The Squatter and the Don

"Inviting comparison to Uncle Tom's Cabin, María Amparo Ruiz de Burton's illuminating political novel [originally published in 1885], is also an engaging historical romance. Set in San Diego shortly after the United States' annexation of California and written from the point of view of a native Californio, the story centers on two families: the Alamars of the landed Mexican gentry, and the Darrells, transplanted New Englanders-and their tumultuous struggles over property, social status, and personal integrity."--Cover.