The Robin Hood of El Dorado: The Saga of Joaquin Murrieta, Famous Outlaw of California's Age of Gold (Historians of the Frontier and American West) [Paperback]

Walter Noble Burns (Author)

Book Description

Series: Historians of the Frontier and American West | Publication Date: August 1999

First published in 1932 and never reprinted since, this historical drama re-creates the life and adventures of Joaquin Murrieta, a Hispanic social rebel in California during the tumultuous Gold Rush. Published during the Great Depression, at a time of mass deportations of Hispanos to Mexico, this sympathetic portrait of Murrieta and Mexican Americans was a unique voice of social protest. The author romanticizes the pastoral society of Mexican California into which Murrieta was born and introduces the protagonist as a quiet, honest, unpretentious, and reserved resident of Saw Mill Flat, California. But the rape and murder of his wife, Rosita, by racist Anglo miners unleashes his vengeful rage. Picking up his pistols, Murrieta tracks and kills Rosita's murderers and defends Hispanos against violence and dispossession by rampaging gold rush miners. Richard Griswold del Castillo discusses the significance of Murrieta to twentieth-century Mexican Americans and Chicanos and of Burns's history to contemporary understanding of the mysterious social bandit.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Walter Noble Burns was a journalist-historian in Chicago. Richard Griswold del Castillo is the director of the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at San Diego State University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press (August 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826321550
• ISBN-13: 978-0826321558
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,098,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Outdated popular history, January 4, 2008

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Robin Hood of El Dorado: The Saga of Joaquin Murrieta, Famous Outlaw of California's Age of Gold (Historians of the Frontier and American West) (Paperback)

Not a particularly well-written or well-researched book. Much research has been done since this book was first published in the 1930's--see particularly Bruce Thornton's balanced, honest account.