| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 92.1

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to JAH online. About 189 words from this article are provided below; about 531 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the Organization of American Historians, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a member of the Organization of American Historians, you can:: • Join the OAH and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the Journal of American History.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two-hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of American History (86.1-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Journal of American History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 92.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Converting California: Indians and Franciscans in the Missions. By James A. Sandos. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004. xx, 251 pp. $35.00, ISBN 0-300-10100-7.)

In the introduction to this volume, James A. Sandos justifies the publication of another study on the California missions, a topic that has received considerable scholarly attention. I see no need to justify the publication of a new synthesis of California mission history. Sandos, however, creates the proverbial straw man in presenting his justification by placing previous contributions into artificial, irrelevant, and inaccurate categories in an attempt to present this book as being different and new. Sandos categorizes the authors of previous studies as "material culturalists," a term that in reality would describe archaeological studies of artifact assemblages, and he categorizes the authors who identify, for example, the negative consequences of life in missions for California natives as "Christophobic nihilists," which implies that Sandos believes them to have a hatred for Christians (pp. xiii–xiv). I believe that the authors of previous studies that Sandos places into these categories would be surprised. I certainly would not classify my own writings this way.

. . .

There are about 531 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.