Justinian Caire and Santa Cruz Island: The Rise and Fall of a California Dynasty

Santa Cruz was once the largest privately owned island off the coast of the continental United States. This account traces the island's history from its aboriginal Chumash population to its acquisition by The Nature Conservancy at the end of the twentieth century. The heart of the book, however, is a family saga: the story of French emigre Justinian Caire and his descendants, who owned and occupied the island for more than fifty years. The author, descended from Caire, uses family archives unavailable to earlier historians to recount the previously untold story.