California's "Fantasy Heritage" Revisited

Abstract

IN RECENT YEARS, SEVERAL HISTORICAL STUDIES HAVE FOCUSED ON THE relations between Indians and the Spanish, Mexicans, and Anglos in colonial and nineteenth-century California. Douglas Monroy's awardwinning Thrown among Strangers is a well-crafted narrative that offers a biting synthesis of a sorry chapter in southern California history and a vastly different version of this regional culture. It is not a history of Spanish or Mexican California but a history of the state's native peoples who, because of the region's labor demands during this early era, found themselves thrown among strangers. Drawing on a vast range of previous scholarship, Monroy attempts a study of the social and cultural activities, interactions, and conjunctures of Spanish, Mexican, Indian, and Anglo peoples to refute the lasting, idyllic, pastoral image of the formative years of California history. He thus follows the path of a handful of scholars before him (most notably Carey McWilliams) to dispel California's fantasy heritage. Thrown among Strangers begins with the Spanish invasion of California in 1763. The Spanish empire was authoritarian, religiously intolerant, and distinguished by a history of war and conquest against the ungodly. The