Official Review: The Last of the Californios

[Gacau]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Last of the Californios" by howard r holter.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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The Last of the Californios by Howard Holter is a historical book which is gives an interesting story of the Pio Pico Family. The story-line is roughly between 1775 and 1894. Howard Holter is a talented Historian who has artistically presented facts and well-researched history with a clear unfolding of events. It is biased on colonialism and fights for independence. The book is divided into two topical parts; The Picos of California and Pio Pico in Yankee California: 1849-1894. The author takes us to a tour from the Mexican Province of Sinaloa where the journey begins to Los Angeles where the Curtains Falls.

The book depicts Pio Pico as a bold, courageous and daring man. He is hardworking and full of generosity. He is also depicted as having outstanding leadership abilities. This is confirmed when there was a search of a just and honorable person to become the Governor. Everyone, in one accord, answered; Don Pio Pico. He provided for his family, gathered wealth while in power as a political leader but unfortunately, all got lost as a result of a court ruling in favor of his prosecutor.

Among several topical stories that are refreshing, I found the story on Defeat, Emigration and Return under part 1 to be more refreshing. Pio Pico makes deliberate efforts to counter the invasion of Americans into California. He seeks help from the foreigners in vain after which he decides to leave California and states very well that his departure was to save their national honor. Later, Pio evades authorities; he is arrested but released 3 days after.

It is difficult to think that there is any detail left out in this Pio Pico generation story. The author is keen enough to present a detailed history with shreds of evidence and facts. There is nothing that I don’t like about this historical narration. I like the inclusion of pictures of streets, individuals and settlements since it gives an imaginative outlook. Most of the places mentioned by the author relate well with the happenings thus makes the book real and factual.

I have not encountered any profane language. The language used is clear and clean. The book format is not well done especially in placing the pages i.e. Acknowledgement, Foreword, and Table of Content. On matters concerning grammar and sentence formation, I only encountered a few misspelling and sentences which if re-framed would be clearer. However, the errors found are not distracting. Therefore, I believe that the book was professionally edited. I rate the book 3 stars out of 4 stars. It would be more relevant to Historians and would be more appealing to those who can connect with the places of the book setting i.e. California.

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The Last of the Californios
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[AntonelaMaria]

I don't think this is a book for me but it does sound interesting. Too bad about some of the errors. Thank you for your review.

[Ogoskino]

Sounds like a book I will not be looking forward to reading. It sounds quite boring. Thanks for the review.

[e19]

i find reading about my own culture is interesting, sounds like it may contain a lot of information upon hispanic immigration