Juan Bautista de Anza: Basque Explorer in the New World, 1693-1740 (review)

2 1 6 Southwestern Historical QuarterlyOctober tions to the listings. Instead, the individual citations are very "bibliographic," providing only the full reference in proper style of notation for each item, leaving to the user the task of determining content from the title alone. The categorization of citations is divided into three major parts: first, a general bibliography of historiographical items; second, an historical section that is subdivided into ten chronological eras from the colonial period to the present; and third, a topical categorization of subjects including—among others—economics, family, education , culture, folklore, music, and religion. Cross listing of pertinent citations between these sections, however, spares the user from having to worry about failing to find items diat have multiple significances. Although there is no subject or title index for die book, an onomastic index by autiior's name at the end of the volume helps the user access the three sections. The compilers freely admit diat a volume such as this (whose purpose is to help users find sources), in reality, cannot be absolutely comprehensive in any ultimate sense. That is indeed the case for this volume. Such, however, is most certainly not due to any shortcomings on the part of the compilers, but rather because of the ambitious nature of the volume and the prodigious amount of material that constitutes the extant corpus of scholarly literature on the Hispanic heritage ofTexas. Commendably, Professors Glasrud and De León invite users to furnish diem with any missing citations by providing their personal contact information. As well, the compilers have particularly enhanced the utility of this volume by embracing a broad, interdisciplinary view of the topic, thus permitting the listing of a variety of citations from across the scholarly literature of the social sciences and the humanities. This handy volume will undoubtedly become an indispensable title on the personal bookshelf of anyone interested in die history of Texas and the southwestern United States, while also becoming a staple in the reference collections of every library in the region. Austin CollegeLight Townsend Cummins Juan Bautista de Anza: Basque Explorer in the New World, 1693-1740. By Donald T. Garate. (Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2003. Pp. xxii+323. Preface, acknowledgments, maps, illustrations, chart, appendix, notes, glossary, bibliography , index. ISBN: 0-87417-505-4. $39.95, cloth.) While historians of northern New Spain encounter Basques on a regular basis, we have yet to systematically study the importance of this ethnic group in the Spanish colonial project and in the networks they used to dominate die administration of the northern provinces. Donald Garate leads die way in changing our understanding of this important community, having previously published articles about Basque naming practices and about Juan Bautista de Anza, father of the better-known eighteenth-century explorer of California and the subject of this book. Garate's approach firmly places the Anza family within the larger context of Basque history, challenging our perspective ofAnza as a Spanish conquistador. More narrative than analytical, Garate spins a readable tale about the life and 2oo8 Book Reviews217 times ofJuan Bautista de Anza. The book might rub some historians the wrong way, as the author admits that this "biography is written in a 'story' form" (pp. xix), which includes recreating conversations and a story about the tears Anza's mother shed when he left for the New World (p. 53). While these narrative devices reach beyond typical historical analysis, Garate's work is well documented widi sources from archives in Mexico, Spain, the Basque Country, Britain, and the United States; transcriptions and facsimiles of documents in the text and appendices should prove useful for further research. As a biography, the story of Anza's life unfolds chronologically from his childhood in Guipúzcoa to his transAtlantic move to Sonora, where other members of the Anza family were well established by the late seventeenth century. The bulk of the book covers Anza's military career, both in Sonora and in the presidios ofJanos and Fronteras, through which he became involved in a series of campaigns against the Apaches, dating from the 1720s through the 1730s. Garate's is a well-documented account, and his knowledge of euskera, the Basque...