The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta (1854) is a novel by John Rollin Ridge. Published under his birth name Yellow Bird, from Cheesquatalawny in Cherokee, The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta was the first novel from a Native American author. Despite its popular success worldwide—the novel was translated into French and Spanish—Ridge’s work was a financial failure due to bootleg copies and widespread plagiarism. Recognized today as a groundbreaking work of nineteenth century fiction, The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta is a powerful novel that investigates American racism, illustrates the struggle for financial independence among marginalized communities, and dramatizes the lives of outlaws seeking fame, fortune, and vigilante justice. Born in Mexico, Joaquin Murieta came to California in search of gold. Despite his belief in the American Dream, he soon faces violence and racism from white settlers who see his success as a miner as a personal affront. When his wife is raped by a mob of white men and after Joaquin is beaten by a group of horse thieves, he loses all hope of living alongside Americans and turns to a life of vigilantism. Joined by a posse of similarly enraged Mexican-American men, Joaquin becomes a fearsome bandit with a reputation for brutality and stealth. Based on the life of Joaquin Murrieta Carrillo, also known as The Robin Hood of the West, The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta would serve as inspiration for Johnston McCulley’s beloved pulp novel hero Zorro. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of John Rollin Ridge’s The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta is a classic work of Native American literature reimagined for modern readers.

"The first national bestseller ever to be written by a San Franciscan." -San Francisco Examiner, Sept. 15, 1981 "We think it is doubtful that Joaquin can be taken...they have got a stronghold in the chapparal, whence they can commit great destruction." - NY Times, March 29, 1853 "Captain Harry Love met with the notorious murderer and robber Joaquin, and six of his equally infamous band, at Panocha Pass... a desperate running fight." - The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Aug. 24, 1853 "Packed with melodrama, bravado, daring escapes, and graphic violence." -The Paris Review A young, innocent and industrious man who is hampered in his attempts to be successful in the United States by acts of cruelty and injustice becomes a bandit who attracts a large number of associates and terrifies the state of California for several months and nearly puts in action a plot for a Mexican invasion of California. Such is the story told by Gold Rush era Cherokee author John Rollin Ridge in his 1854 book "The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta, the Celebrated California Bandit." Regarding the authenticity of his book, Ridge writes: "I have taken very extraordinary pains in collecting and sifting the facts and the reader may rely upon the account given in these chapters as absolutely correct in every particular." Famous American historian Herbert Howe Bancroft apparently believed in the authenticity of Ridge's accounts and would use Ridge's book as a primary source in his history of California. In his book, Ridge---himself a California Gold Rush miner---traces the harrowing life of Joaquin Murrieta (1829 -1853), the Robin Hood of El Dorado, who was a Sonoran forty-niner, vaquero and gold miner who became a famous outlaw in California during the California Gold Rush of the 1850s. The life story details Murrieta's evolution from a young Mexican migrant into a legendary outlaw and insurrectionist. Murieta as a young man arrives in California "fired with enthusiastic admiration of the American character." However, upon obtaining success in the gold fields of California, his American dream collapses when white men jump his claim, assault his wife, requisition his farm, kill his brother, and falsely accuse and publicly whip him. After making attempts to live an honest life as American, in the face of anti-Mexican discrimination, Murieta becomes outlaw and eventually an insurrectionist who plotted and nearly set into motion a plan to take over California with forces from Mexico. Due to the actions of Murieta's gang, in many agricultural districts both mining and agricultural pursuits were in a measure suspended. Travel became absolutely dangerous in the most open highways, and communication had well-nigh ceased between important points. American owners of ranches were impoverished in a night by having every hoof of their stock driven into the mountains, and afterward into Sonora. The condition of things soon became intolerable, and a petition, numerously signed, was presented to the Legislature praying that body to authorize Captain Harry Love to organize a company of Mounted Rangers, in order to capture, or drive out of the country, or exterminate the gang of bandits. ---Thus was the scene set in Ridge's final chapter for a grand finale showdown between the outlaw gang and the newly minted California Rangers. In the end, Ridge concludes that "that there is nothing so dangerous in its consequences as injustice to individuals, whether it arise from prejudice of color or any other source; that a wrong done to one man is a wrong to society and to the world." John Rollin Ridge (Cherokee name Yellow Bird) (1827 -1867), was a member of the Cherokee Nation, and is one of the first famous Native American authors.

First published in 1854, "The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta" is the thrilling Gold Rush tale of a wild outlaw by Cherokee author John Rollin Ridge. Originally written under his Cherokee name Yellow Bird, Ridge's embellished story of real-life Mexican bandit Joaquín Murieta was instantly popular and soon translated into several languages. Ridge tells the story of Joaquín as a young and idealistic man who moves to California from Mexico with his family in search of gold and is quickly shown the cruel and violently racist side of American culture. With his wife attacked, his farm stolen, and his brother murdered, Joaquín vows revenge on the racist mob and becomes a violent outlaw with a large following of loyal bandits. Joaquín and his gang reach a near mythic status until the community and Legislature organized to create the California Rangers bring the outlaws to justice. Eloquent, brutal, and engrossing, Ridge's novel is notable for being the first by a Native American as well as one of the first novels set in California. It also inspired countless imitations and legends and endures as a great American story of injustice and revenge. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

A thought-provoking collection of searing prose from a Sioux woman that covers race, identity, assimilation, and perceptions of Native American culture Zitkala-Sa wrestled with the conflicting influences of American Indian and white culture throughout her life. Raised on a Sioux reservation, she was educated at boarding schools that enforced assimilation and was witness to major events in white-Indian relations in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Tapping her troubled personal history, Zitkala-Sa created stories that illuminate the tragedy and complexity of the American Indian experience. In evocative prose laced with political savvy, she forces new thinking about the perceptions, assumptions, and customs of both Sioux and white cultures and raises issues of assimilation, identity, and race relations that remain compelling today.