Gregory Orfalea

4 stars for exhaustive research. Serra, his world, passion, the politics & cultures come alive. This may be too detailed for some readers, it is an academic work. In bringing Serra to life, the author uses a lot of "was Serra [thinking this] as he was [doing that]?" Too much speculation. Yet the detail of Serra's many miles, from Mallorca to Mexico, then up & down (& up & down...) the California coast is described in amazing detail. Each tribe or band of natives is given their due in their show more unique responses to the invaders; each mission's creation is an event. A fascinating read. show less

Interesting topic (especially Chapter 2, about the first Arab immigrants), but not the most engaging book. I feel like Orfalea was too close to his subject, though the amount of interviews he did with Arab Americans from across the country was impressive.