The Father of All

The de la Guerra Family, Power, and Patriarchy in Mexican California

by Louise Pubols

Historian Louise Pubols presents a rich and nuanced study of a key family in California's past: the de la Guerras of Santa Barbara.

Amid sweeping economic and political changes, including the U.S.-Mexican War, the de la Guerra family continually adapted and reinvented themselves. This absorbing narrative is much more than the history of an elite and powerful family, however. Pubols analyzes the region's trading and provisioning economy and clarifies its volatile political rivalries. By tracing a web of business and family relationships, Pubols shows in practical terms how patriarchy functioned from generation to generation in Spanish and Mexican California.

436 pages
6"w x 9"h
hardcover; ISBN 978-0-87328-240-6; $30.00

About the Author: Louise Pubols was Chief Curator of the History Department of the Oakland Museum of California. Formerly, she was the historian at the Autry National Center’s Museum of the American West. She has a PhD in U.S. History from the University of Wisconsin. She passed away in the summer of 2017, and will be missed.

Selected books from the Huntington Library Press are now distributed by Angel City Press.

This book is part of the Western Histories series, published for the USC-Huntington Institute on California and the West by University of California Press and Huntington Library Press.