Book II engulfs the reader in Alta's tumulus years from 1821 through 1839. High California's second generation rises. The sons and daughters of the original Spanish colonists struggle to hold their land. A new culture evolves. People who are Mexicans by law yet call themselves Californios first. Mexico becomes a far-off, uninterested Government. The inevitability of violence between Alta's Indigenous Peoples and the Californios ignites with Muata, the Great Bear Killer, and Major Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo at the center of the clash. Falling Rain struggles to bridge the gulf between Olivia, her Spanish birth name, and Huyana, the Yuki herb healer. Yerba Buena, San Francisco, rises slowly. Empires continue to grow. The Americans begin to assert their culture in Alta, setting the stage for War between Mexico and the expanding United States. Charles Kelly's Navy begins the evolution from sail to steam. John Augustus Sutter flees Sweden for the New World. James Marshall begins his trek up the Oregon Trail. John Fremont boards the USS Natchez and sails towards becoming the Pathfinder. Volume II of Alta, A Clash of Four Cultures, seamlessly brings forward a powerful trilogy. Yet it serves as a standalone book chronicling the evolution of High California.
