Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Author Alan Rosenus displays his award-winning book.

Saratoga writer wins Western Writers 'best biography' award

By Tim Persyn

While sitting in a Saratoga coffee shop, award-winning author Alan Rosenus flipped through his most recent work, General M.G. Vallejo and the Advent of the Americans. In the book, Vallejo, a 19th-century figure in California history, is pictured at various stages in his life, as a young man, as a state senator, and as an elderly man after he lost much of his land.

Rosenus commented that in the last picture, Vallejo, who wore his sideburns to the end, wasn't looking too happy. But hey, neither would you if you just lost your grip over much of Sonoma and Solano counties.

For his biography of Vallejo, Rosenus, a 55-year-old writer and Saratoga resident, recently won the Western Writers of America 1995 Spur Award for the Best Biography. "The Western frontier was not known as a haven for idealists--but Vallejo, compared to his contemporaries, was highly ethical," said Rosenus, who has a doctorate of arts from the University of Oregon. For instance, Vallejo would not tolerate the enslavement of Indians, the author said.

Rosenus explained that during Vallejo's lifetime, the fate of California was up for grabs. When the future "Golden State" was under Mexican rule, Vallejo served as military governor. But he thought the land and its people would be better off Americanized.

Although some favored making California a British or French protectorate, Vallejo preferred American institutions, said Rosenus.

"He liked the republican institutions in the United States, that there was no nobility by birth," commented the author. Rosenus added, "Vallejo thought the United States would do the best job of developing California's resources."

Vallejo, of Spanish descent, advocated American statehood for California. But as the Gold Rush altered California's social fabric and the region's pastoral economy became a thing of the past, Vallejo had trouble dealing with the changing world around him.

Particularly, Vallejo had a concern for the environment. "He discovered that the expansion of the California economy had unfortunate consequences and that sometimes meant partial ruination," said Rosenus.

In all, the author said his biography, which he spent about five years writing, portrays Vallejo as a futurist who believed in progress, education and economic development. "He was a man far ahead of his time in foreseeing California's future," Rosenus said.

In addition to his work on Vallejo, Rosenus wrote the introduction to Life Amongst the Modocs by Joquin Miller, edited "Indian History of the Modoc War" and wrote a collection of short stories, Devil Stories. He has been writing since 1972.

General M.G. Vallejo and the Advent of the Americans, published by the University of New Mexico Press, is available at the Saratoga Book Market in the Blue Rock Shoot in Saratoga.