Two-time governor of Alta, California and admired businessman after the U.S. annexation, Pío de Jesus Pico was once a politically savvy Californio who thrived in either the Mexican and the yankee classes. this is often the 1st biography of Pico, whose lifestyles vibrantly illustrates the possibilities and dangers confronted through Mexican americans in these transitional years.

Carlos Manuel Salomon breathes lifestyles into the tale of Pico, who—despite his mestizo-black heritage—became one of many wealthiest males in California because of genuine property holdings and who used to be the final significant Californio political determine with financial clout. Salomon lines Pico’s complex political upward push throughout the Mexican period, prime a insurrection opposed to the governor in 1831 that swept him into that place of work. in the course of his moment governorship in 1845 Pico fought in useless to avoid wasting California from the invading forces of the United States.

Pico confronted complicated felony and monetary difficulties less than the yankee regime. Salomon argues that it used to be Pico’s criminal struggles with political competitors and land-hungry swindlers that finally ended in the lack of Pico’s whole fortune. but because the so much litigious Californio of his time, he regularly proven his refusal to develop into a victim.

Pico is a crucial transitional determine whose identify nonetheless resonates in lots of Southern California locales. His tale deals a brand new view of California historical past that anticipates a brand new point of view at the multicultural cloth of the state.