Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836-1986 [Paperback]

David Montejano (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0292775962 | ISBN-13: 978-0292775961 | Publication Date: 1987

., ."a major revisionist work of the history of Mexicans in Texas.... the most important race-class analysis of the Chicano experience." -- Gilberto Cardenas, University of Texas at Austin ., ."an exciting work that should win major reviews for its originality." -- Arnoldo De Leo n, Angelo State University "The success of this award-winning book is in its honesty, scholarly objectivity, and daring, in the sense that it debunks the old Texas nationalism that sought to create anti-Mexican attitudes both in Texas and the Greater Southwest." -- Colonial Latin American Historical Review ., ."an outstanding contribution to U.S. Southwest studies, Chicano history, and race relations.... Montejano's general model will certainly provide useful approaches to the study of other regions and race relations settings. This is a seminal book that should be required reading for both specialists and general readers interested in the themes analyzed so aptly by David Montejano." -- Hispanic American Historical Review r

Editorial Reviews

Review

The success of this award-winning book is in its honesty, scholarly objectivity, and daring, in the sense that it debunks the old Texas nationalism that sought to create anti-Mexican attitudes both in Texas and the Greater Southwest. (Colonial Latin American Historical Review )

Product Details

• Paperback: 397 pages
• Publisher: University of Texas Press (1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0292775962
• ISBN-13: 978-0292775961
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #182,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My book, Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836-1986 won several major prizes, including the Frederick Jackson Turner Prize for "the best first book in American history" in 1988. Anglos and Mexicans is now in its eleventh printing and has been designated a "Texas classic" by the University of Texas Press.

It's hard to write a sequel after such a reception. But twenty-something years later, Quixote's Soldiers: A Local History of the Chicano Movement, 1966-1981, is finally out in print. I feel that it is a worthy successor. For a number of reasons, some of which will become apparent upon reading the book, that material simply had to age before it could see publication.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't miss, April 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836-1986 (Paperback)

I can not tell you how many copies of this book I have given away. Why? Because if you're visiting Texas, or have just moved here, and you don't "get" it (& why would you?), or have lived here a while but have been only subjected to the official story, you MUST read this book. But it's not only Texans -- new and veteran -- who need to read this. If you are interested in Southwestern U.S. history, you need to read it, and if you're interested in a very good case study of how "race" and class work together, against each other, and are intertwined in very complicated ways, you need to read this. And any student of civil rights movements will benefit from Montejano's analysis.

Montejano's writing is clear and direct, without being oversimplified. You'll be grateful you read this book, and probably keep coming back to it....things that may not make sense at first will become clearer with time. If only more history was written this well.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History lesson, February 4, 2010

By 

Dario Solis (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836-1986 (Paperback)

It's very interesting. It tells how Mexicans grew up in Texas, so if you want to know more on how Texas was made this would be a good book.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mexican Problem, August 20, 2008

By 

E G Lopez "E G Lopez, author Sirena, at www.s... (Albuquerque, New Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836-1986 (Paperback)

This Mexican problem is not new. About every thirty years the xenophobes come out of the woodwork to try to turn back the tide. You need to read this book. Why? Because you ignore your history at your own peril. Witness Iraq, just thirty years after Vietnam.
This is not a novel. It will require a bit of motivation. It is a serious sociological/historical treatise, but it is not dense. It is well worth the effort. The focus is south Texas, but it is relevant all across the territories taken from Mexico by war: Texas, New Mexico (New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona), and California.
Learn about good Mexicans and bad Mexicans, clean Mexicans and dirty Mexicans, dead Mexicans, lazy Mexicans and stupid Mexicans, and other variations on the theme. Find out how Mexicans who threw in with Anglos to secure the independence of Texas ended up dispossessed, disfranchised, disenfranchised, dangling from the end of a rope or digging ditches. Learn what it takes to whiten a Mexican where even heroism in war will not suffice, and see how Mexicans squabbling among themselves for crumbs from the master's table delay their own progress.
Don't be afraid. Montejano is dispassionate as a historical sociologist should be. It is 1987 and he is hopeful. He cannot see what the future will bring. If your mind is already made up and you don't wish to be confused with facts, and you're already well caught up in the hysteria, then I don't recommend it. On the other hand, if you sincerely believe that the Mexican problem is susceptible to something other than the final solution, and you have an interest in averting this country's slipping into some shameful reenactment of a tawdry chapter in its history, then you could do a lot worse than to invest a bit of time and money in this book.