"If I could write a story that would do for the Indian a thousandth part of what Uncle Tom's Cabin did for the Negro," wrote Helen Hunt Jackson, "I would be thankful the rest of my life." Jackson surpassed this ambition with the publication of Ramona, her popular 1884 romantic bestseller. A beautiful half Native American, half-Scottish orphan raised by a harsh Mexican ranchera, Ramona enters into a forbidden love affair with a heroic Mission Indian named Alessandro. The pair's adventures after they elope paint a vivid portrait of California history and the woeful fate of Native Americans and Mexicans whose lands and rights were stripped as Anglo-Americans overran southern California. Set from the first American edition of 1884, this Modern Library Paperback Classic includes José Martí's 1888 prologue (translated from the Spanish by Esther Allen).
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
"Now the Hacienda's Dark, the Town is Sleeping":
It has been a long time since I first read this book, but the subject matter will be around for a long time to come. Bewitching love story for which at least one beautiful song has been written, "Ramona" and possibly "Vaya Con Dios". It is a love story, one whose emotion most of us will recognize; another time, another place, from our own Spring Time; woven skillfully into cultural differences, that somehow begets bigotry, born of all the little differences that make each of us unique, but also make us... more info
THE TWILIGHT OF HISPANIC CALIFORNIA:
Published in 1916 Jackson's classic romance--in every sense of the word--recreates an already bygone era. After the 1834 Secularization of the 21 missions in the chain founded by Father Serra, the California of the grandees slowly, inevitably began to fade into historical memory. Three groups were drastically affected by the disintegration of this social system--admittedly not free of innate injustice. Ruin fell upon the devout Franciscan fathers, the Hispanic hidalgos who had received vast estates from the... more info
Early California History:
Ramona is a historical romantic fiction that was written in the late nineteenth to help publicize the cause of Indian Rights. The author, herself an activist, tells the story of the injustices that were done to the Spaniards, Mexicans and Indians by the early American explorers who came to California. Ramona, who is part-Indian. becomes the heroine in a tale of love and hate. The book is one of the most famous stories ever written about early California, and there have been annual Ramona-festivals in many... more info
Opens a Window on Another Time and Place:
Helen Hunt Jackson's two major books, CENTURY OF DISHONOR and RAMONA were on a reading list of mine when I was a graduate student back in the Upper Paleolith. I didn't like either book, but am forced to concede their value. RAMONA reminded me of trying to eat ten gallons of ice cream. It was too sweet, too melodramatic and I was lucky to avoid death by cloying suffocation from reading it. It is, however, a great example of late 19th century romance. People didn't have e-mail, text messaging,... more info
