The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta

With a new foreword by Diana Gabaldon, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Outlander series.

An action-packed blend of folk tale, romance, epic, and myth, The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta tells the story of the Gold Rush-era bandit Joaquin Murieta, whose efforts to find fortune and happiness are thwarted by white settlers who murder his family and drive him off his land. In retaliation, Murieta organizes a band of more than 2,000 outlaws-including the sadistic "Three-Fingered Jack"-who take revenge by murdering, stealing gold and horses, and robbing banks, all with the ultimate goal of reconquering California.

Written by a half-Cherokee named John Rollin Ridge, or Yellow Bird, and inspired by the true story of an American folk hero, The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta is the first Native American novel, the first novel published in California, and the first to feature a Mexican American hero. The story of the infamous bandit-which became one of California's founding myths and has lived on in countless stories, poems, plays, and films-speaks to the ways in which questions of race, ethics, national security, and racialized police violence have been a part of our country's history since its founding.

“"Remarkably readable and entertaining . . . Offers a window on the real social dynamics--race, culture, and prejudices--of the time, and may offer grounds for reflection on how much things have changed. Or haven't." -- from the Foreword by Diana Gabaldon, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Outlander series "One of the most influential and one of the most invisible novels in the history of American literature . . . It remains a vital novel today as racial profiling, deportations, criminalization, police violence, and racialized dispossession continue to devastate American communities in spite of putatively 'colorblind' laws [and] offers a bracing rejoinder to racially disproportionate rates of incarceration, the systemic nature of antiblack police brutality, and the intensified militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border fueled by racial stereotypes such as President Trump's invocation of 'bad hombres.' . . . A classic American story of anti-racist insurrection." -- from the Introduction by Hsuan L. Hsu”

Remarkably readable and entertaining ... Offers a window on the real social dynamics - race, culture and prejudices - of the time and may offer grounds for reflection on how much things have changed. Or haven't. -- Diana Gabaldon

John Rollin Ridge (1827-1867), also known as Yellow Bird, was born in Georgia to a Cherokee father, who was murdered by a Cherokee leader for having supported the treaty that led to the Trail of Tears. After killing a man who had stolen his horse, Ridge fled to California, where he identified with Mexican Americans who had been displaced from their land by white settlers. He wrote for the San Francisco Herald, among other publications, and was the first editor of the Sacramento Bee. His only novel, The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta, was published in 1854.

Hsuan L. Hsu (editor/introducer) is a professor of English at the University of California, Davis.

Diana Gabaldon (foreword) is the author of the multimillion-copy #1 New York Times bestselling Outlander series. She lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, with her husband.

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