First published 2004
Luis Maria Peralta surveys his vast Oakland hills territory, awarded to him in 1829 after Mexican independence displaced the native Huchiun people who had roamed these creek-fed slopes for generations. The Huchiun once followed waterways down from the ridgelines to San Francisco Bay, but now Peralta controls their ancestral hunting grounds. His ownership proves fragile as American settlers flood California seeking fortune. They strip the virgin redwoods that crown the hills, transforming Peralta's domain into lumber profits. Transit companies push rail lines up the mountainsides, running promotional picnics to lure buyers to remote lots. Poet Joaquin Miller camps in the wilderness that will someday bear his name as a park. Developers carve meadows into orchards, then subdivisions. The 1991 firestorm will later scar these neighborhoods, but the hills endure as Oakland's scenic backdrop. Peralta watches his Mexican land grant slip away as American enterprise reshapes the landscape forever.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century, 19th-century, american-history
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-setting, social-commentary
Setting: Oakland Hills, San Francisco Bay, California
Period: 1829, 1991
128 pages · Paperback · Arcadia Publishing