El Tigre is about the Life and Times of Johann Heinrich von Manfred, a young Prussian who became a Texan, a Californian and an American. This is an unusual historical novel in that the fast action moves through post-Napoleonic war Europe, to Texas in the 1830s and California during the gold rush. (Louise Harris of AC: The People's Media Company says "I found El Tigre so captivating at times I didn't know what parts were fictional or true accounts".)

Johann's saga begins in Prussia in the time when that small kingdom was the most powerful military force in Europe and it follows his journey from boyhood to maturity through half of the world. His entry to the Prussian Military Academy shortly after the Napoleonic Wars was, as all Prussian Junker children, at 10 years of age. The saga continues as his militaristic abilities and youthful audacity, along with a little misfortune, lead to his departure to engage in conflicts in France, Spain, Florida, Georgia, New Spain, Texas, Mexico, and finally Old California.

He provides aid to a simple band of gypsies in the Pyrenees, then, joins the forces supporting Carlos, the Royal Pretender to the Spanish Throne. The cause is lost and he must flee. He moves to the new world. Landing in Florida, he moves to Georgia to train guards for detainees in the Indian Removal Act, then on to aid Houston in the establishment of the Republic of Texas. He remains as a Texas Ranger, but leaves when the new republic runs out of money. He moves on to "Old California" where he saves the life of a Spanish Don who is the owner of a huge land grant, and finds a love that he never could have thought possible with the militaristic training and life he had lived.

He becomes involved in the Mexican War and eventually in the turbulent days of the gold rush of '49. His abilities in all of these activities were such that, especially to the inhabitants of the southwestern territories of his later endeavors, only one name was sufficient to describe him. To these residents, the young von Manfred's action so resemble the incredible strength, speed, and fearless resourcefulness of the feared and respected jaguar, that he, too, became known as El Tigre.

2010

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