El Camino Real de California: From Ancient Pathways to Modern Byways: By JOSEPH P. SÁNCHEZ. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2019. xvii + 274pp., appendix, notes, maps, bibliography and index. $65.00 (HB). ISBN 9780826361028.

The heart of Dr. Sánchez's work are the three chapters dealing with the Portolá expedition as it worked its way up Alta California and blazed the origins El Camino. Now the legendary route has been given an in-depth academic history written by Dr. Joseph P. Sánchez, director of the Spanish Colonial Research Center at the University of New Mexico and well-published historian of the Spanish Borderlands. However, the Portolá expedition along the route provides ethnographical data and ties in the importance of the role of Native Americans along El Camino. [Extracted from the article]