Joaquin Murieta by John Rollin Aka Yellow Bird Ridge
The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta, the Celebrated California Bandit, is a unique book in many ways. In 1854, it was the first novel published in California, and it is also the first novel written by a Native American. Yellow Bird was the son and grandson of famous Cherokee chiefs, and he lived a vigorous and dangerous life as an Indian. But he was also a well-educated and literate man, known in the white man's world as John Rollin Ridge. Both a novelist and poet, Yellow Bird made his living in California as a newspaperman, ending his short life in Grass Valley as the editor of the Grass Valley National newspaper, of which he was a part owner. He was just forty when he died, but he had lived a fuller life than most. The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta was Yellow Bird's only novel, but it left an enduring mark. It not only sparked a number of knockoffs but also created the enduring myth of Joaquin Murieta. In addition, it was the genesis of the dime novel industry of the late nineteenth-century that persists even today as the paperback Westerns found in every bookstore, newsstand, and even supermarket. It was truly a first in that regard.But it is worth reading for more than those reasons -- it is a colorful and romantic story that fires the imagination of the reader, portraying in no uncertain terms what life was like in those times.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.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781591080008 |
| ISBN 10 | 1591080002 |
| Title | Joaquin Murieta |
| Author | John Rollin Aka Yellow Bird Ridge |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Poitin Press |
| Year published | 2003-05-28 |
| Number of pages | 152 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |