The Portuguese Presence in California is the first book with a holistic view of the Portuguese-American world in the golden state. From the primordial days of the presence of the Portuguese in the 1800’s, to the last wave of emigration from the Azores islands in the 1960’s and 1970’s, Eduardo Mayone Dias, professor emeritus at UCLA, gives the reader a series of compelling chapters detailing the vitality of the Portuguese-American communities.
All of the important aspects of the Portuguese-American experience in California are narrated in a captivating prose, for Eduardo Mayone Dias has studied and written about the Portuguese-American experience for many decades. During his tenure at UCLA, he dedicated much of his investigative scholarly work to the Portuguese-American communities in the Untied States, and with great passion, to the communities in California. He has written over a dozen books dedicated to the Portuguese-American world.
The Portuguese Presence in California, now translated to English, is, in my view, mandatory reading, not only for Portuguese-Americans who want to know the collective history of their forefathers in the great state of California, but also required reading for anyone who wants to understand the contributions that the emigrants from the small nation of Portugal, and their descendents, have given to our rich multicultural society.
Katherine Baker,
Bobby Chamberlain
e Diniz Borges.
Califórnia,setembro de 2009
