Saga of California: The Promised Land

This epic novel recreates the complex and sometimes violent clash of cultures, dreams and ambitions that brought about the colonization of california. We follow the tumultuous love affair of a Chumash Indian girl and a Spanish soldier who meet in 1769. Into the lives of Lospe and Antonio, Easton weaves fascinating research on Indian culture and his own formidable knowledge and underslanding of Old California. We experience Chumash village life as never before depicted - the unscupulous astrologer-priest, a pet condor, the homosexual who lays out the dead, the astronomy cave, the use of lizards and coyotes as messengers to the spirit world. We also gain new understanding of such famous historical figures as Junipero Serra and Gaspar de Portola. This Promised Land presents a vivid cast of Indians, missionaries, rebellious Mexicans nad American settlers in a cinematic novel of love and strife, hatred and reconciliation, nobility and greed. This is the first in a trilogy, The Saga of California, which will follow the descendants of Lospe and Antonio through several generations up to the present day. --- from book's back cover Power And Glory - The Saga Of California Blood and Money: The Saga of California : A Western Story (Five Star Western Series)