Naida West, Ph.D.

A graduate of U.C. Berkeley, Naida West holds a Ph.D. in sociology from U.C. Davis. The mother of 3 grown children, she lives with her husband, two horses, a dog and a cat on a small ranch alongside the Cosumnes River where the principal characters of this book once lived present day Rancho Murieta. Inspired by nature and artifacts from the ground -- Native American, gold rush, and ranching frontier -- as well as the stories of local old-timers, in 1990 West quit her other work in Sacramento to...See more

A graduate of U.C. Berkeley, Naida West holds a Ph.D. in sociology from U.C. Davis. The mother of 3 grown children, she lives with her husband, two horses, a dog and a cat on a small ranch alongside the Cosumnes River where the principal characters of this book once lived present day Rancho Murieta. Inspired by nature and artifacts from the ground -- Native American, gold rush, and ranching frontier -- as well as the stories of local old-timers, in 1990 West quit her other work in Sacramento to research and write full time about those who walked the land before her. Her credits 23 years later include a trilogy of history novels, (California Gold Trilogy), the centerpiece of which is the present book. "Writing is the best thing I've ever done," West says, "I wish I had started twenty years earlier!" For more information see www.bridgehousebooks.com/Authors. See less