Ramona - (Signet Classics) by Helen Hunt Jackson (Paperback)

About the Book

As one of the great ethical novels of the 19th century, "Ramona" was both a political and literary success and continues to move modern readers with its sympathetic characters and its depiction of the Native American's struggle in the early West. Contains an Introduction by acclaimed author Michael Dorris and a new Afterword. (July)

Book Synopsis

One of the greatest ethical novels of the nineteenth century, Helen Hunt Jackson's Ramona is a tale of true love tested.

Set in Old California, this powerful narrative richly depicts the life of the fading Spanish order, the oppression of tribal American communities and inevitably, the brutal intrusion of white settlers. Ramona, an illegitimate orphan, grows up as the ward of the overbearing Senora Moreno. But her desire for Alessandro, a Native American, makes her an outcast and fugitive...

Review Quotes

"Ramona is a second Uncle Tom's Cabin. . . . The arrogant mestiza whose attachment to her Indian lover endures through persecution and death . . . and the desperate love they share until the vanquishing blond race casts them out like hunted animals . . . all this is alive in these pages."
-José Martí

About the Author

Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885) was a poet, novelist and essayist who became an advocate for Native American rights, fighting for improved treatment of Natives by the US government. She detailed the adverse effects of previous actions taken against Indian tribes in her history A Century of Dishonor (1881). Her novel Ramona (1884) dramatized the federal government's mistreatment of Native Americans in Southern California after the Mexican-American War and attracted considerable attention to her cause.