We Are the Land is a comprehensive and accessible overview of California Indian history, centering the long history of Indigenous people in the state's creation.

This book recounts the centrality of Native presence from before European colonization through statehood, paying close attention to the persistence and activism of California Indians in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

It deftly contextualizes first encounters with Europeans, Spanish missions, Mexican secularization, the devastation of the Gold Rush and statehood, genocide, efforts to reclaim land, and the organization and activism for sovereignty that built today’s casino economy.

A welcome contribution to Native studies and the rich literature of California history, We Are the Land is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the complex and often overlooked history of California's Indigenous peoples.