Customer Reviews

Grito! Reies Tijerina and the New Mexico Land Grant War of 1967,

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In the early summer of 1967 a small band of Spanish Americans raided the courthouse in a dusty town in New Mexico to publicize their claim that much of the land in the state had been stolen from their ancestors. The author, who happened to be in New Mexico at the time, was drawn into the events and set out to discover what had happened during the raid, why it had happened, the legitimacy of the raiders' claims, and what sort of person was their leader, Reies Tijerina.

This fascinating and important book presents a moving picture of the impoverished existence of the Spaish Americans whose folk traditions have brought them into direct armed conflict with the state and national governments. Interwoven with the details of the current "war" are the history of the land grant controversy, the life of Tijerina - an evangelist preacher with little formal education but a great vision - and the relationship of the Spanish Americans' actions with the growing militancy of other minority group in the country.

Mr Gardner's personal involvement helped him gain the confidences of the local people on both sides without sacrificing objectivity in chronicling this confounding yet heroic event. He has shown how a revolution begins, and has thoroughly documented the claims and grievances that underlie the struggle of the Spanish Americans and Indians of the Southwest.
--- from book's dustjacket