"Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, the recently discovered California nineteenth-century novelist, struggled against the boundaries that circumscribed the life of both women and Latinos in the southwestern territories of the United States. Not only was she the first Latina novelist to write in English, but her circumstances, ambition and resolve took her into circles where relatively few women could venture.".

"Conflicts of Interest captures the complex terrain within which Ruiz de Burton moved, pulled in different directions as she was by tensions of class, race, gender, and nationality. The trajectory of Ruiz de Burton's life, as viewed through her correspondence, makes for a compelling and revealing narrative, one that brings to life the conflictive evolution of discourse and culture in the Southwest as it was becoming integrated into the United States in the latter half of the nineteenth century.".

"This volume is as complete a collection of the Ruiz de Burton letters as is possible, given the lacunae of the historical record. Included with the letters are various personal and business documents and a collection of articles about Ruiz de Burton and her family. Among her correspondents were such important historical figures as Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, Jose Matias Moreno, George Davidson, Samuel L. M. Barlow, E. M. Morse, Prudenciana Moreno, and Platon Vallejo.

This album is accompanied by a scholarly introduction by researchers Sanchez and Pita, who reconstitute and situate Ruiz de Burton's life and times through their analysis and commentary."--BOOK JACKET.