For the past several years, the Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio has focused its interests on the ethnohistorical region surrounding the modern town of Guerrero, Coahuila, where, in the colonial period, the center of the region was the mission of San Juan Bautista. Written by historian Almaraz, this highly useful volume is the first report in a projected series on the area, and it traces the history of the Church and state from 1700 through Mexican independence. The Church is viewed mainly through the missions of San Juan Bautista and San Bernardo, while the state and military are represented by the Presidio de San Juan Bautista del Río Grande (called Presidio del Rio Grande del Norte after 1772). The study concludes that the two institutions developed symbiotically, due in large part to their isolated, frontier location on the Río Grande. Five tables present population and agricultural production figures for the missions in 1706, 1727, and 1738. The work would have benefited from the inclusion of a map.