Jack S. Williams

This is a well-researched and balanced book about the Spanish mission system in California. The authors explain why California Indians may have voluntarily joined the missions and the forces that kept them there. The second chapter in this series always pertains to how historical research is conducted and in this book students will learn about the work of cultural anthropologists. The authors propose an interesting scenario at the end of the book. They speculate that if the missions had been allowed to stay open, Native Californians would have eventually built up resistance to European diseases and also would have, in time, been given back more of the land that was promised to them.… (mais)

This book is part of Williams's and Davis's People of the California Missions series. Like the other volumes, it is thoroughly researched and well-written. The authors discuss how the creation of towns in Spanish California went against the original plan to settle the region using presidios and missions. The books also explains how the missionaries disliked and distrusted townspeople and ranchers, but how after Mexican independence, they gained control of California. There are excellent chapters on the daily life of the townspeople and include interesting facts that will fascinate fourth graders. For example, almost all townspeople over the age of ten smoked! The second chapter in this series always pertains to how historical research is conducted and this book discusses how historians learn from oral history. The authors of this series always manage to handle the controversial subject of Spanish missions in an objective and sensitive manner.… (mais)