Customer Reviews

The California Missions: A Complete Pictorial History and Visitor's Guide (Sunset Pictorial)

5 star:		(6)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book describes not only how and why the Missions were established, but also gives a history and brief description of each individual mission in the California system. There are some pictures which could help when making a model (the book "California Missions Projects & Layouts" by Libby Nelson is best for actual model-building). But this book certainly gives enough history to be an excellent resource when writing a report. It is also written so that a 4th-grader can read and understand. A must for any Mission student!

I used his book while traveling to the missions with my children. It is an excellent overview of all of the missions. It provided us with a good sense of the history of the missions, and gave a idea as to the extent of restoration and rebuilding that had occured at each mission. It also documents the highlights and special attractions of every mission.

Each mission is presented individually, and maps show each mission as it was originally built. Many illustrations portray mission life. Period photos and other illustrations show each mission as time and the elements have affected them. The textures, building materials, techniques, and crafts used in the construction and reconstruction of the missions are presented via text, photos, and illustrations.

There are many books that discuss various missions as separate entities. I bought many along the way. For the money, this book is the best at bringing them all together in one place and discussing the interdependence of the whole mission system. Used as either a mission travel guide or as a jumping off point, you won't be disappointed.

A beautiful illiustration of Californias most spectactular monuments. As well as, 21 well written chapters describing each individual mission presently and historically. I have visited some of these missions within the last 5 years.
For anyone who have never seen one of these 21 California Missions personally, this book will make it seem as if they are.

I have visited missions across the country. And each has its attraction. Yet there is something more robust and alive about the California missions. This book attempts to bring it out to you in history, tales, and diagrams. This is a good book to carry as you visit the different missions.

The only drawback is that the bulk of the pictures are Black and white. It looks like art more than a live place that people are in today. Some of the missions are hard to find but there is no excuse to missing the gardens in San Diego de Alcala. The first mission founded July 16, 1769, and has had many lives since.

There are 25 chapters and a fact section. You can even find Mission Recipes like Puchero means "a boiled pot".

I ordered this for my son's 4th grade mission project. I'm from Minnesota, so I didn't have to do this obviously as I wasn't raised in CA. I enjoyed learning about CA history. It's a good read for the parent and child. There were actually some funny parts too, like when the author wrote, "he claimed California for Spain, although people were already here" [or something like that] lol

This was a present for my daughter and she was very pleased with the quality of the book

Although it's nicely written and photographed, NO book reissued these days as a historical outline or overview has ANY business referring to Native Californians as "simple" or "childlike" or the colors of their artwork as "barbaric."

As for 90% of these "simple" people with a rich cultural and spiritual life having been wiped out through warfare, culture shock, deicide, and disease, the authors weigh in on the pro-mission anti-mission argument by resorting to this supposedly measured justification:

"...the treatment of natives by the Spaniards, though open to criticism by modern standards of political morality, was certainly no worse than that practiced in other colonial empires of the time. Slavery was condoned by all the world empires until late in the 19th century...Basically, the conflict of Spaniard vs. Indian was that of two cultures widely separated in style but fated to collide, and the reduction of the weaker by the stronger was inevitable."

To argue that one form of subjugation is "no worse" than another, or that it was an inevitable result of the meeting of two cultures, is a cynical--no, a despicable hypothesis; and until this racist book is rewritten to eradicate these irresponsible "reasons" for ruthless colonialism, I urge the potential reader not to buy it. You can find nice photos and good commentary in plenty of other books. Let this one wither on the vine just as the missions did before their later restoration.