The Squatter and the Don

Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton is one of the first Mexican American writers and the first female Chicana writer published in English. In her career, she wrote two novels. Who Would Have Thought It? was published in 1872; The Squatter and the Don, her more famous novel, was published in 1885. Ruiz de Burton also wrote one play, an 1876 adaptation of the novel Don Quixote. Ruiz de Burton’s writing was influenced by her witnessing of the Mexican–American war in her childhood, her marriage to prominent American soldier Henry Burton, and her travels across the United States for her husband’s work. As Burton was a Protestant, Ruiz de Burton gained insight into Anglo American Protestant society, particularly in New England, which might otherwise have been denied to a Catholic, Mexican American woman.

Ruiz de Burton’s work is notable for its connection to the writer’s life; she spent over two decades embroiled in legal battles to retain her husband’s lands (obtained via Mexican land grant) after he died in 1869, as does Don Mariano in The Squatter and the Don. Likewise, Lola Medina, the heroine of Who Would Have Thought It? descends from Spanish aristocrats like Ruiz de Burton. Ruiz de Burton’s work is further known for its criticism of the United States, both regarding its treatment of Mexico following the Mexican–American war and its foreign policy more broadly.