Customer Reviews (26)

Thank you very much for offering exactly what I needed.
Several years ago, I read an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about this book. I was surprised, because I didn't even know that a book was written about how the indigenous peoples of California felt about the change from being governed by Mexico to being ruled by the United State of America. It was heartbreaking to read, but it's a must-read for everybody who lives in this country. May we never forget, so that it won't happen again.

I recommend this seller
I got the book exactly came how the seller said it was.It was fast shipping and in great condition. Thank you so much.

rating the physical book...not the story
This book is an excellent story.Lots of California history..or better..Alta California as it was known in the era.

BEWARE OF THE PHYSICAL BOOK !!!!! It is about 10"x11"...printing of the story is VERY!!!! pale.

I will keep this....but have ordered an older, normal paperback version...similar to the one I left accidentally at the San Diego airport.
Terrible size and print itself. Find another book of Ramona, by Helen Hunt Jackson....andbe ready to want to go to Old Town San Diego.

Michaelene Gon.

A Story You Will Never Forget
I loved Ramona. It was the most beautiful story I have ever read. A wonderful look at California right after it came under the control of Americans. A story that has history, romance, prejudice, love, loss, and everything in between . Please read this book. I only regret that I never read it until I was in my thirties. This is Helen Hunt Jacksons masterpiece and the attention that it gave to the treatment of Indians is remarkable.

Great historical romance
This book might be the only romance novel that I've read in my life, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.It painted a detailed portrait/landscape of what California was like in the late 1800's. ... Read more

Product Description
This reproduction was printed from a digital file created at the Library of Congress as part of an extensive scanning effort started with a generous donation from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.The Library is pleased to offer much of its public domain holdings free of charge online and at a modest price in this printed format.Seeing these older volumes from our collections rediscovered by new generations of readers renews our own passion for books and scholarship. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good Reading
Being a member of The Juaneno Band of Mission Indians in San Juan Capistrano, Ca. This book has given me a great bit of understanding into how our people were treated and how thislady dedicated the last years of her life to helping the mission indians in California.I'm a new fan of Mrs.Jackson's writings. ... Read more

Product Description
Novelist, travel writer, and essayist Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885) was one of the most successful authors and most passionate intellects of her day. Ralph Waldo Emerson also regarded her as one of America's greatest poets. Today Jackson is best remembered for Ramona, a romantic novel set in the rural Southern Californian Indian and Californio communities of her day. Ramona, continuously in print for over a century, has become a cultural icon, but Jackson's prolific career left us with much more, notably her achievements as a prose writer and her work as an early activist on behalf of Native Americans. This long-overdue biography of Jackson's remarkable life and times reintroduces a distinguished figure in American letters and restores Helen Hunt Jackson to her rightful place in history.

Discussing much new material, Kate Phillips makes extensive use of Jackson's unpublished private correspondence. She takes us from Jackson's early years in rural New England to her later pioneer days in Colorado and to her adventerous travels in Europe and Southern California. The book also gives the first in-depth discussions of Jackson's writing in every genre, her beliefs about race and religion, and the significance of her chronic illnesses. Phillips also discusses Jackson's intimate relationships--with her two husbands, her mentor Thomas Wentworth Higginson, the famed actress Charlotte Cushman, and the poet Emily Dickinson. Phillips concludes with a re-evaluation of Ramona, discussing the novel as the earliest example of the California dystopian tradition in its portrayal of a state on the road to self-destruction, a tradition carried further by writers like Nathanael West and Joan Didion.

In this gripping biography, Phillips offers fascinating glimpses of how social context both shaped and inspired Jackson's thinking, highlighting the inextricable presence of gender, race, and class in American literary history and culture and opening a new window onto the nineteenth century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

One of those authors...
...you just can't get over,once you've read her work you want to know everything there is to know about her! ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (4)

Nice Read
This is an enjoyable book. It transports you back to a simpler time and does a good job at portraying the sense of adventure and wonder the Easterners had for the West during the mid 1800's.

Interesting
After reading this book you will start seeing references to Ramona everywhere. It is kinda freaky when you really think about how big an impact the book had.

Boring
I had read a good review of this book in the newspaper, and, since I was going to spend a week in Ramona, California, thought I should read it.
It is the most boring, dry book I think I ever read.About half the book is references to the writing.I finally gave up on it, and threw it in the trash.

Examines the myth of Ramona in the regional tourist history
The heroine of Helen Hunt Jackson's 1884 novel Ramona started a trend of Ramona naming of landmarks which became part of many a tourist's journey to Southern California at the time. Surprisingly, Ramona Memories: Tourism And The Shaping Of Southern California is the first study to consider the influence of Jackson's fictional character and setting on the real world of Southern California. DeLyser examines the myth of Ramona in the regional tourist history, the establishment of attractions by fans of the novel, and tells of numerous Ramona enthusiasts who took elements of the novel and made them a part of their lives.
... Read more