Joaquin Murrieta and his Horse Gangs is the most definitive single source for an accurate history about Joaquin Murrieta and his associates. The author has spent many years researching the subject and retracing the steps of Joaquin; his vast knowledge about Joaquin is obvious as you read the book. The book is well written, easy to follow and contain many photographic references (nearly 300).

This is a book about the famous bandit Joaquin Murrieta in the gold rush days near Oroville california. He was a mild mannered man until he was removed from his claim, his wife raped in front of his eyes. This would enrage any man. He wanted revenge, so he set out getting even. He was not killed like so many books portray,he escaped. His head was not in the container passed around. He escaped to Mexico where he lived quite well.

This book is one of the most beautiful childrens books I have ever read, being a single mother, there are a lot of them! Children do not have a long attention span, and this book is created with sevral short stories, keep the children interested. A lot of books these days are filled with violence of some sort. This book rather teaches children the lessons of love, friendship. I know that we have enjoyed this book time and time again. I would recomend that anyone with children buy this book!!

Searching For Joaquin: Myth, Murrieta, And History In California by Bruce Thornton (Professor of Classics and Humanities, and Chairman of the Foreign Language Department, California State University - Fresno) is a compelling biography and history of Joaquin Murrieta, one of the most notorious bandits of the Gold Rush era who was to meet his ultimate fate on a hot July dawn in 1853 in a gunfight which took place on the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley (midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles). Long a figure of myth and legend, Searching For Joaquin is a compelling, meticulous, treatise that shows how myth and history can blend into exaggeration, romanticism, and ethnic pride. A work of superb scholarship, Searching For Joaquin is a highly recommended contribution to American Frontier History and Biography.

Reading Wandering Peoples brought to my mind a pleasant afternoon I spent several years ago traveling from San Ignacio Rio Mayo, Sonora, to Alamos, Sonora, with four Mexican friends, at least two of whom occasionally referred to themselves as Mayo Indians. We were going to Alamos because one my friends, Joel Casaraz, wanted a treatment from "Don Juanito", a "real Indian" who was famous as a "sobador" or masseuse. We developed quite a discussion as to just what it means to be "indian" in Sonora, since two of my companions considered themselves "Mayo Indians" but not "real Indians" like "Don Juanito." We wondered why certain other people we knew were "Mexicans," "real Indians" or something in between.

Our results came down to differences in life style, dress (they wore boots, he wore sandals) and language (they spoke primarily Spanish, he spoke very fluent Mayo). But they all had the same Mayo genes, were similar in appearance, and had grown up in Mayo speaking villages. Finally, Jonatan Ramirez gave the conclusion we all accepted: to really understand you've just got to know the history of these lands for the last five hundred years!

I welcome a book like Wandering Peoples for the insight it gives into that history. Someone seriously interested in the history of Sonora and its peoples will want to become acquainted with this book. There are chapters meriting study from the historian, and other chapters are more for an anthropologist. Wandering Peoples deals with the late Colonial to early National period in central and northern Sonora. Radding knows her stuff, and shows an intimate knowledge of the region and its history. I especially appreciated understanding of the variation in interests among Spanish and Indian groups.

She defines "social ecology" as an approach based in the ecological relations that guide the "political implications of resource allocation," and determines how people "ascribe cultural values to their claims to land and labor." Clearly, the indigenous peoples had very different concepts of land use and mobility that would directly clash with the Spanish agenda.

There is a good discussion of native history both before and after the arrival of the Europeans, in particular describing land-use patterns that conflicted with Spanish concepts. There is a good treatment of the difficulties imposed by the climate and the unstable nature of agricultural production, and how these forced a dispersed settlement pattern. It seems almost surreal how little things have changed: lack of water is the major obstacle to life and development in Hermosillo and most of Sonora to this day. The discussion of the pre Colombian archaeology is quite good. She focuses especially on the Trincheras and Rio Sonora traditions.

There follows the history of Spanish colonial exploitation of Sonora differed primarily because of the lack of large-scale polities that could be easily tapped into, and due to the degree of nomadism practiced by northern groups. The Crown relied on evangelization for a Spanish presence, primarily embodied in members of the Jesuit order, such as Padre Eusebio Kino. The expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 left other Spanish colonists free to ensnare the Indians in debt servitude, even as Bourbon reforms continued to break up communal lands into private holdings.

Radding explains how Indian households responded by becoming considerably more flexible; they accepted new members who had lost their own families, and temporary sexual unions formed while males were away at mining camps. These impermanent family structures clashed with Spanish, particularly missionary, ideals, and were yet another source of ethnic conflict. The migration of Indians away from the missions undermined the communal land system, the invasion of the region by cattle herds led to increased erosion and destruction of agricultural land. Furthermore, men joining the military for long campaigns against the raiding, nomadic Apaches left many of their towns starved for labor.

The author show how the invading whites were slowly gaining control of land and water rights, in a treatment reminiscent of invasions of Seri, Yaqui, and Mayo land in recent years. The advance of Bourbon reforms brought increasingly formal procedures of land ownership for which the Indians were unprepared. The land grabs that followed continued to chip away at communal land holdings until little was left, and the incentive even to retain Indian identity disappeared. The final dismantling of communal and mission lands under the new Mexican republic, provoked by the needs of a growing non-Indian population in the far northwest.

This book achieves well the purpose of a detailed study of the adjustments of certain Sonora indigenous groups to the European conquest. I recommend it to those interested in the history of Sonora.

I found this book very dull. The information about Murrietta is skimpy at best and the author tries to extend the book by writing about alot of bit players.

James Varley's history of Joaquin Murrieta as reported in 19th century California newspapers and county histories is a must for anyone wishing to know more about Joaquin. His extensive footnotes and comprehensive bibliography, his astute observations and reprint of the confession of Theodor Vasquez, are just a few of the reasons why this book is definitely worth the investment. He reveals new facts about some of the California rangers who hunted Joaquin, about Claudio Feliz, Joaquin's brother-in-law, and about Father Blaive, who signed an affidavit claiming he had known Joaquin and recognized the head as his. It is unfortunate that Varley cannot read Spanish and therefore ignored all Spanish language sources. Nonetheless, this book is a valuable and useful resource for anyone interested in the more colorful characters that rode over California's rolling hills during the gold rush.

This is finally a book that tells the truth about Murietta, in wonderful detail. The author has obviously done a thorough job of researching his subject, revealing many things I had never known before. It is a riveting history of this bandit who has become such an icon to Hispanics.

The lift-the-flap aspect of the book nicely keeps toddlers involved in reading. The rhyming text flows nicely as well. The book does start a bit oddly and jerks you into the story, but that's more of an adult complaint: the kids don't seem to mind.

I hope the person at Disney who was responsible for this book was fired, because this book is awful. It seems almost impossible to have problems with a five page-turn book, but this one manages it. First, there is the story line where on one page Piglet builds his "spookable" so he isn't afraid, then on the very next page, he hides under the chair. Did anyone else catch the fact that Tigger and Pooh seem to change their Halloween costumes between page turns. First Pooh has a space-suit (pictured on the cover) then he is a ghost with a sheet over him. Tigger starts out wearing a skeleton outfit, then he too is a ghost with a sheet over his head, then he as no outfit at all at the end. Does Disney employ editors? Hello! This book seems to be a half-hearted Halloween themed board book rushed to market without any thought nor effort placed on storyline, consistency, or logic.

Pooh, Tigger and friends are generally adored by my children, but this small board book failed to capture their interest. The sturdy flaps reveal nothing of interest to inquisitive young minds. For example, rather than friendly ghouls, two lightening bolts hide behind one of the flaps. The flaps are difficult for toddlers to grasp. The text is awkward for both children and adults. It is the first Pooh book my children did not want to read again.

This is a short book -- five rhyming verses, five lift-the-flaps. Piglet is scared of Halloween so he builds himself a "spookable," a mechanical monster, to test his own mettle. He figures if he can handle he spookable he'll be able to handle whatever Halloween brings. The spookable is a scary-looking contraption. If your child can handle the somewhat scary drawings, they might work for the child just like they do for piglet.