Skip to main content
University of California Press

Decline of the Californios

A Social History of the Spanish-Speaking Californians, 1846-1890
by Leonard Pitt (Author), Ramón A. Gutiérrez (Foreword by)
Paperback
Price: $31.95 / £27.00
Publication Date: Jun 1999
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 340
ISBN: 9780520219588
Trim Size: 5.5 x 8.25
Illustrations: 42 b/w photographs
Request an Exam or Desk Copy(opens in new window)RightsLink(opens in new window)Read an Excerpt(opens in new window)
Recommend to your Library (PDF)(opens in new window)Rights and Permissions

About the Book

In his enduring study of Spanish-speaking Californians—a group that includes both native-born Californians, or Californios, and immigrants from Mexico—Leonard Pitt charts one of the earliest chapters in the state's ethnic history, and, in the process, he sheds light on debates and tensions that continue to this day. In a new foreword for this edition, Ramón A. Gutiérrez discusses the shaping and reception of the book and also views this classic work in light of recent scholarship on California and ethnic history.

About the Author

Leonard Pitt is Professor Emeritus of History at California State University, Northridge. He is the coauthor, with Dale Pitt, of Los Angeles A to Z: An Encyclopedia (1997). Ramón A. Gutiérrez is Associate Chancellor and Professor of Ethnic Studies and History at the University of California, San Diego, and is coeditor of Contested Eden: California before the Gold Rush (California, 1998).

Table of Contents

Foreword by Ramon Gutierrez
Preface

I Halcyon Days: Mexican California, 1826-1845
II Rain in a Sheepfold: War and Annexation, 1846-1848
III "Greasers" in the Diggings: Californians and Sonorans under
Attack
IV The Head Pickled in Whiskey
V The Northern Ranchos Decimated
VI The Cow County Ranchos in Limbo
VII "Semi-Gringo" Los Angeles
VIII "Serapes and Split Breeches" in Politics
IX Race War in Los Angeles, 1850-1856
X Cow County Bandidos, 1856-1859
XI El Clamor Publico: Sentiments of Treason
XII California Lost, 1855-1859
XIII Catholicism in a "Medium State"
XIV Upheavals-Political and Natural, 1860-1864
XV The Second Generation, 1865-1890
XVI Schizoid Heritage

Bibliography
Glossary of Ethnic Terms
Index

Reviews

"Decline of the Californios is one of those rare works that first gained fame for its pathbreaking and original nature, but which now maintains its status as a classic of California and ethnic history."—Douglas Monroy, author of Thrown among Strangers