The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta: The Celebrated California Bandit

By John Rollin Ridge, Diana Gabaldon and Hsuan L. Hsu

The first novel to feature a Mexican American hero: an adventure tale about Mexicans rising up against U.S. rule in California, based on the real-life bandit who inspired the creation of Zorro, the Lone Ranger, and Batman

With a new foreword by Diana Gabaldon, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone and the rest of the Outlander series

A Penguin Classic

An action-packed blend of folk tale, romance, epic, and myth, The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta tells the story of the Gold Rush-era Mexican immigrant Joaquín Murieta, whose efforts to find fortune and happiness are thwarted by white settlers who murder his family and drive him off his land. In retaliation, Murieta organizes a band of more than 2,000 outlaws--including the sadistic "Three-Fingered Jack"--who take revenge by murdering, stealing horses, and robbing miners, all with the ultimate goal of reconquering California.

The first novel written by a Native American and the first novel published in California, The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta speaks to the ways in which ethical questions of national security and racialized police violence have long been a part of U.S. history. This edition features excerpts from popular rewritings of the novel, including Johnston McCulley's first novel about Zorro, The Curse of Capistrano (also known as The Mark of Zorro).

For more than seventy-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 2,000 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Jul 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9780525504580

John Rollin Ridge

John Rollin Ridge (1827-1867) was a novelist, poet, and member of the Cherokee Nation. Born in New Echota Georgia, Ridge was the son of John Ridge, a prominent Cherokee leader and signatory of the 1836 Treaty of New Echota, which allowed the cession of Cherokee lands and led to the devastation of the Trail of Tears. Following his father’s murder by supporters of Cherokee leader John Ross, Ridge was taken to Arkansas by his mother. In 1843, he was sent to study at the Great Barrington School in Massachusetts before returning to Fayetteville to pursue a law degree. He married Elizabeth Wilson in 1847 after publishing his first known poem, “To a Thunder Cloud,” in the Arkansas State Gazette. Two years later, Ridge was forced to flee to California with his wife and daughter after murdering a man named David Kell, whom he believed to be involved in his father’s assassination. Out West, he published The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta to popular acclaim, making him the first known Native American novelist. Ridge was a prominent figure in California’s fledgling literary scene, serving as the first editor of the Sacramento Bee and writing for the San Francisco Herald. Controversial for his assimilationist politics, slave ownership, and support of the Copperheads during the American Civil War, Ridge is nevertheless a pioneering figure in Native American literary history.

Reviews for The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta

[stahl2ricco · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I picked this up because it was mentioned in a book I just finished reading, "There There" by Tommy Orange. In that book, this one was mentioned as "The first novel by a Native person, and the first novel written in California...". I felt duty bound to pick this up!This book takes place in the 1850's, in California. Joaquin gets whipped for stealing a horse he didn't steal, and the same mob that did that, killed his half brother. Well, he decides then and there to get revenge on that mob, and on all white Americans, or "Yankees", and forms a band of outlaws, or banditti, to do so! Most colorful of those fellows, besides Murieta, is Three Fingered Jack, but all the banditti are ruthless robbers and killers.This book is ok, in that it has historical relevance and has some decent, if bloody, action. What I didn't like is that it is all one big long piece, no chapter breaks or anything. It sort of reads like a person talking too fast! Even if they just divided the story up at date/season changes, it would have read better, for me. But if you like westerns, and robbers, you'll probably like this!