This wonderful book proves our point that peoples' lives tell the real history of an era. It is both diversified and comprehensive in its coverage of the people whose hearts, souls and bodies are the stuff of which California was made. In addition to the breadth of material, the book also provides a depth of insight into life in the state's formative times, held together by the common thread of California's missions. An abundance of firsthand quotes fills its pages with vivid imagery of the tenor of the times. It takes us into our chroniclers' deepest thoughts...Truly a unique book, in addition to authentic firsthand quotes, "Soldiers, Scoundrels, Poets & Priests" provides: Over sixty photographs, many of them historic images never before published; A Time Line that is an essential historic guide relating what was happening in California to U.S. and world events; A participants'-eye-view of days gone by. Organised by era, the book puts flesh and blood onto California's history. It is a singular treasure for those interested in California's colourful past and the people who made it what it is.

Table of Contents

Juan Rodrigeuz Cabrillo; Gaspar de Portola; Junipero Serra; Juan Bautista de Anza; Philipe de neve; Pedro Yanunali; Francisco Hermenegildo Garces; Manual Ruiz and Estevan Munras; Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov; Hipolite Bouchard; Filipe Arroyo de la Cuesta; Estanislao; Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo; William Edward Petty Hartnell; Auguste Duhaut-Cilly; Jedediah Stong Smith; Richard henry Dana; Narciso Duran; Pio Pico; John Charles Fremont; Charles Fletcher Lummis; Helen Hunt Jackson; Mission Painters; Mission Photographers; Mrs A S C Forbes; John Steven McGroarty; William Randolph Hearst; Joseph Jacinto "Jo" Mora; Harry Downie.