This is a collection of some of the finest studies, eighteen of them, which have appeared on aspects of the historical past of New Spain's Far Northern Frontier. It is intended primarily as a reader to supplement a course on the so-called Spanish Borderlands, putting at the easy disposal of the student outstanding bits of scholarship, developed, with one or other exception, in the 1960s and 1970s. The book can be valuable to the scholar, making quickly available as it does these same studies, which other-wise might have to be run down in the file of journals in which each appeared. The editor has prefaced the volume with a thoughtful and thought-provoking Introduction, in which he offers his concept of the place of Spain's borderlands in American history. The editor has also furnished a setting for each piece, along with a mini-biographical note and short bibliography of the works of each author. He has added "Suggestions for Further Reading and Research." Two of the essays-Albert H. Schroeder, "Shifting for Survival in the Spanish Southwest" (1968), and George Harwood Phillips, "Indians and the Breakdown of the Spanish Mission System in California" (1974)-have direct Indian pertinence. Many of the others have valuable insights for the student of the Native Americans. The book is welcome as a student reader and a convenient reference tool for the scholar of Spain in North America. -- JOHN FRANCIS BANNON, Saint Louis University