New Book Chronicles the Fascinating History of The Golden State

The state of California has long been labeled “The Golden State” but few really know the state’s interesting history beyond the gold rush era.  California native Rick Walker, extensively researched California’s historical past and tells the state’s story through the eyes of fictional character Sergio Moñino in his new book California. Moñino, a young secretary to the chief minister of King Charles III in the book, recounts the upheaval, treason and murder of the so-called “Sacred Expedition” of 1769 that turned a small indigenous tribal nation into the state of California.

A follow up to Walker’s first book, Calafia, which tells the untold story of California’s beginning, California picks up the Golden State’s origin tale where the first book left off, focusing on the years from 1769 to 1775, and the heavy influence of Spain and the Catholic Church in the region. 

Walker’s fictional historical saga continues the story of the clash of cultures that pitted the earliest Spanish settlers against the indigenous people they came to displace. That intersection of peoples could be beautiful from time to time, but often it was bloody.

California explores in-depth the Spanish conquest of the region. Spanish settlers brought with them their ambitions and  preconceptions, crosses and guns. The priests came to convert the indigenous people to Catholicism. The soldiers came to take their lands. Then they brought their families, and the world that the Native Americans had known for so many centuries was forever changed.

The story told in California is important in understanding the cultural diversity and influence that is the state of California today, a place whose natural beauty will always be marred by its violent history. At times tragic and funny, insightful, honest, humane and a thrilling adventure, the state’s history has never come so alive than on the pages of California.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rick Walker was born and raised in Southern California. After successful careers in restaurant management and video production, he founded Corky Carroll’s Surf School in Huntington Beach, California. He subsequently opened Corky Carroll’s Surf Resort in Costa Rica, where he lived for eighteen years. 

Rick’s long-standing interest in the history of California inspired his investigation of the origins of Orange County’s Irvine Ranch. His research led him to an in-depth study of the state’s beginnings. Over the past few years, Rick researched in-depth the history of California. Unable to find a book fully covering its discovery, he decided to write one, documenting both the facts and rumors behind this fantastic tale. Calafia and California are the result. 

Rick currently lives in Huntington Beach, where he continues to write, surf, and keep on keeping on. For more information about Rick visit www.rickwalkercalifornia.com. 

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