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Ethnohistory 48.3 (2001) 523-525



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Book Review

Intimate Frontiers:
Sex, Gender, and Culture in Old California


Intimate Frontiers: Sex, Gender, and Culture in Old California. By Albert L. Hurtado. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1999. xxix + 173 pp., foreword, preface, introduction, illustrations, tables, index. $39.95 cloth, $17.95 paper.)

The frontier occupies a special place in the history of the Americas, often evoking legends and myths of exoticism. But Albert Hurtado’s book brings frontier history to another border—the cutting edge of theory. Hurtado [End Page 523] uses the lens of gender theory to provide a new reading of California history. His text is not at all heavy-handed, however, and as a result, the book is very readable and definitely should be considered for the classroom. The author is particularly successful in conveying his sense of excitement as he tells the story of how his research began and how the story of Amelia Kuchinsky (who died because of a failed abortion) haunted him.

Hurtado’s theoretical approaches will not be unfamiliar to most historians who follow the debates over gender theory. But his application of these ideas to the history of California as a frontier adds another level of complexity. Hurtado straddles many borders. Both U.S. and Latin American history inform his work, and he is very familiar with the historiographical questions of both fields. He also is sensitive to the multiracial, multicultural dimensions of California society. The traditional divide between white and Indian was complicated there by rifts within white society between Californianos, Hispanics, Anglos, and others. California was also the home of a multitude of indigenous peoples. Hurtado presents California’s complicated racial composition with reference to the work of historians of Latin America and particularly those who have written about Mexico.

Intimate Frontiers explores how notions of sex, gender, and culture can be used to illuminate a regional history. Hurtado follows the chronology of California history, starting with the establishment of missions and finishing during the period of the gold rush. Rather than trying to present an exhaustive account, he uses vignettes from each period that provide the framework for his theoretical analysis. He presents such well-known episodes as the disastrous Donner expedition by bringing to bear the perspectives of new forms of analysis for fascinating new readings. He also discusses well-known personalities, such as Dame Shirley.

Family formation is one of the threads that runs throughout the book. He focuses on heterosexual courtship and marriage and discusses homosexuality only as a challenge to the traditional family. According to Hurtado, it was through the successful establishment of families that Anglos began to dominate the region. For over a century in California’s history, men vastly outnumbered women in the nonindigenous population, and this made family formation—if it was to be a respectable union—fraught with difficulties. Therefore men who were anxious to become proper husbands by taking wives of their own racial background and class had to compete. This led to some interesting situations, such as when Sergeant Ygnacio Vicente Ferrer Vallejo claimed the newborn baby girl he had just successfully delivered as his prize for helping enable her birth. The sergeant had to wait fourteen and a half years to claim his prize, but when he did, he [End Page 524] married into a good family. In the later gold rush period, because of their scarcity, women could easily find a mate but could also charge high rates for performing such female work as laundry and cooking.

Hurtado also brings to life the violence that was innate to California history and uses it as a window onto this society. Many of Hurtado’s sources are based upon violent acts and hardships, but he avoids the kind of morbid voyeurism that can be associated with such work. He also shows how respectable folk tried to resolve the tension between the frontier’s inherent violence and their aspirations of propriety. The famous historian Hubert Howe Bancroft’s retelling of the lynching of a Mexican woman illustrates this tension. Not...

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