This book practically wrote itself!
As I was doing research for my book Portuguese Immigrants to Mendocino, I became fascinated by the early days of this remote county in northern California. Going beyond the lurid headlines of massacres and murders, I wanted to know who these people were. Where did they come from? Why were they killed? What provoked the murders? Was anyone ever punished? What happened to the survivors and the perpetrators?
What I uncovered included family feuds lasting generations, genocide, slavery, slanted journalism, perverted justice and range wars. And among these stories of greed and true evil were bright spots of great bravery where men and women stood up to the bad guys and risked their lives to bring justice to a lawless land.
This is recent history. These were our great-grandparents. And there is much to be learned in the parallels of their lives and ours today.
Rosemary J Palermo 