59 pages • 1 hour read
María Amparo Ruiz De BurtonThe Squatter and the Don
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1885A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Before You Read
Super Short Summary
In The Squatter and the Don by María Amparo Ruiz De Burton, William Darrell moves to San Diego in 1872 to legally settle contentious lands, while Don Mariano Alamar fights to protect his property from squatters; amid legal and ethical disputes, their families become intertwined through romances and financial struggles, highlighting the broader social and political challenges faced by Californios post-Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. References to racist policies, rhetoric, violence (including allusions to chattel enslavement), sexist attitudes, animal death, gun violence, and possible death by suicide are present in the book.
Reviews & Readership
Review Roundup
The Squatter and the Don by María Amparo Ruiz De Burton is widely praised for its insightful depiction of social and racial tensions in post-Mexican-American War California. Reviewers commend its historical relevance and engaging narrative but note its occasional melodramatic tone and uneven pacing. Overall, it remains a significant work in American literature.
Who Should Read The Squatter and the Don?
Readers who appreciate The Squatter and the Don by María Amparo Ruiz de Burton will enjoy deeply layered historical fiction with themes of identity, land rights, and cultural conflict. Fans of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez will find this novel similarly engaging.