Soldiers, Scoundrels, Poets & Priests
Title, Sub Title, Back Cover, Flap Text, Author’s Bio
The Story: At the time I met him, Dave McLaughlin was a very successful business consultant who sat on the boards of several national and international companies. Also an amateur historian and highly talented photographer, he had come to Ellen Reid with a wonderful manuscript that told the stories of the people behind the California missions. We did all the promotional writing for the book, including title and sub title.
Since that initial project Dave & I have worked together on a number of projects ranging from his publishing company website (http://www.pentacle-press.com/) to co-authoring a series of travel books (Pathways to the Past) featuring locations in Western Massachusetts.
Title: Soldier, Scoundrels, Poets & Priests
Sub Title: Stories of the Men and Women Behind the Missions of California
Back Cover:
What Tales These Old Mud Walls Could Tell
The living history of California's missions is a mosaic of piety and passion, heroism and greed. Soldiers, Scoundrels, Poets & Priests puts flesh and blood on a profoundly important time in California's history, an extended period of evolution from wilderness to territory to state.
This is not a dry recounting of facts, it is a vivid depiction, in words and images, of the people who birthed and nurtured California and the places that formed its shape and character. It is, in fact, the only book that assembles the stories of all the key players in the California mission drama into one fascinating volume.
Meet familiar friends like Junipero Serra who founded the first missions and John Charles Freemont, the pathfinder who helped the territory win statehood. Discover the lesser known, but equally important characters in the play, like Pio Pico who illegally sold mission lands and buildings to enrich his friends and himself, or Francisco Hermenegildo Garces, the "Daniel Boone in Franciscan garb."
In 30 biographies and nearly twice that number of photos, historic and contemporary, the splendor that is the California mission system unfolds before your eyes. Soldiers, Scoundrels, Poets & Priests tells a wonderful tale and provides a unique glimpse into the heart and soul of California: its magnificent missions.
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Flap Text:
A New Look at California's Missions—and History
The story of California's missions is so much more than tales of adobe and wood structures. Each mission, and the people whose fates drew them to it, is a gem in the crown of the state that fulfilled this country's manifest destiny.
With the passion of a California mission lover, the integrity of an historian, and the eye of a photographer, David McLaughlin reveals the California missions in Soldiers, Scoundrels, Poets & Priests as no one else has. His words and images, some taken by past masters, some by himself, tell the tale of the bold venture that became California, in the context of the people who became connected to the California mission system.
The book is divided into three sections, each dealing with one of the significant periods in the state's evolution.
• The Spanish Period from 1769, when Junipero Serra was sent to found the mission to 1821 when California became part of the Mexican territories.
• The Mexican Period, from 1821 when the missions fell under the control of the newly independent country of Mexico—and were essentially left to fail or prosper—to 1848 when California was ceded to the United States and the mission system was effectively ended.
• The American Period, from 1848, when the US gained California at the end of the Mexican American War, to the present, during which time the abandoned missions were restored and preserved.
Each of these periods had a profound effect on the missions, and each had its own unique heroes and villains. If you love the California missions, Soldiers, Scoundrels, Poets & Priests breathes life into them. It is a book to be read, admired and treasured for its clarity and accuracy and the humanity it gives to these old but timeless buildings.
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Author’s Bio
David J. McLaughlin is a writer, photographer and business consultant who was raised on the East Coast of the United States, but fell in love with California and its missions when he traveled west on a business trip. Captivated by the beauty and charm of the 21 missions throughout the state, he eventually published a gallery of photos, Images of the California Missions. In the course of his many journeys along El Camino Real, he also became fascinated with the missions' histories. The result is Soldiers, Scoundrels, Poets & Priests, the stories of the men and women whose dreams and dedication created this priceless legacy. David's writing spans topics from business to travel and he has been published in numerous magazines and journals. He is currently working on a "Visual Journey" of the Greek Isles. David makes his home in Phoenix, Arizona, and is a member of the California Mission Studies Association.
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