The Squatter and the Don: Modern Library

The Squatter and the Don, like its author, has come out a survivor,” notes Ana Castillo in her Introduction. The fact that it has resurfaced after more than a century from its original publication is a testimony to its worthiness.” Inviting comparison to Uncle Tom's Cabin, María Amparo Ruiz de Burton's illuminating political novel is also an engaging historical romance. Set in San Diego shortly after the United States' annexation of California and written from the point of view of a native Californio, the story centers on two families: the Alamars of the landed Mexican gentry, and the Darrells, transplanted New Englanders-and their tumultuous struggles over property, social status, and personal integrity.



This Modern Library Paperback Classic is set from the first edition of 1885.



Ana Castillo is a poet, essayist, and novelist whose works include the recent poetry collection I Ask the Impossible and the novel Peel My Love Like an Onion. She lives in Chicago and teaches at DePaul University.

Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton (1832-1895) was born into a prominent family in Baha, California. Her grandfather, Don Jose Manuel Ruiz, was Governor of Baha. In 1849, she married U.S. Army Captain Henry S. Burton. Her husband died in the Civil War, leaving the author with two young children to raise. She spent years fighting legal battles over lands that she and her husband had owned, battling squatters and government officials much like Don Mariano's family in The Squatter and the Don. Ruiz de Burton's literary works included newspaper articles, a theatrical comedy of Don Quixote, and the novel, Who Would Have Thought It?

About Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton