Centennial Edition

Centennial Edition is the third novel in this historical saga rooted in the Salinas Valley of California. The first, Land of the Eagle, traces Jeremiah. Cleary from Ireland's potato famine to a new life in the American west. The second, Pen and Plow, introduces the pioneer newspaper family which plays a vital role in the development of the area. This final book of the trilogy adds a rich mixture of families and traditions - descendants of the early Californians, Basque sheepherders, hardy Swiss dairymen, refugees from the Dust Bowl and Mexican field workers. Their lives are recorded on the pages of The King City Settler as they cope with the Great Depression, World War II and the horrors of Vietnam. Then huge demographic changes send the Salinas Valley reeling into racial tension, labor turmoil and social reform. The conclusion is one of hope, as Editor and Publisher, Tim Cleary writes it, Someday we will all be one people - Americans!