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CALIFORNIA'S MISSIONS by Hildegarde Hawthorne

CALIFORNIA'S MISSIONS

By

Pub Date: March 26th, 1943
Publisher: Appleton-Century

Another K.H. Suydam book is almost too much to expect, but here it is, and a book with a sure market, not only in the California region, but wherever travelers know and love the California missions. The text starts with a general chapter, giving the beginnings of the Spanish settlement of Alta California in the mid-18th century, and of the founding of the first missions by Juniperro Serra. The long, hard trips up and down the coast, the exploration, the slow filtering of settlers from Mexico. Then the early building of missions and the Indians and the Spanish governors. The balance of the book deals with the missions separately, describing their present appearance, following their history. There are 20 in all. They are described lovingly, occasionally verging on the sentimental; but the picture left by the book is vivid and picturesque, though the style is often awkward, and one feels the author obtrudes too often.