Forster Vs. Pico : The Struggle for the Rancho Santa Margarita

Picking up where Terry E. Stephenson another lover and student of California history left off, the author examines the loss of land by Mexicans to American newcomers using the 1873 lawsuit between John Forster and Pio Pico as a case in point. He discusses how an aggressive American culture, taxes, the Land Act of 1851, and the propensity of Californios to borrow money from Americans at unconscionable interest rates all helped to insure the destruction of their holdings. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.