Mexican Voices American Dreams: An Oral History of Mexican Immigration to the United States [Paperback]

Marilyn Davis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1991

In these vivid recollections, recorded both in Mexico and the U.S., 90 Mexican-Americans share their innermost thoughts and feelings and reveal a wealth of experiences: the risks they take, what they left behind, their dreams versus the realities, and how immigration has changed their lives.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"With respect and sympathy," anthropologist Davis transcribes the oral histories of 90 Mexicans and Mexican Americans, among them a muralist, a lumberyard manager and farm and factory workers. According to PW , this "often dramatic" collection offers "thoughtful discussions of how migrations affect societies on both sides of the border." Author tour.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This is a wonderfully revealing and warm interpretation of Mexican settlement in the United States from the immigrants' point of view. The author, an anthropologist who has taught primary school for many years in Mexico, used her familiarity and cultural skills to obtain detailed oral interviews with a wide range of participants in the immigration process; she provides a historical overview from the 1920s to the present by including the testimony of both sexes and all ages, extending to the children and grandchildren of early immigrants. The first-person accounts ring true and are complemented by helpful transitional narratives, placing each story in the proper setting. Highly recommended.
- Roderic A. Camp, Central Coll., Pella, Ia.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co (P) (November 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080501859X
• ISBN-13: 978-0805018592
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #613,808 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great reference for understanding cultural differences, April 1, 2000

By 

Armando Moran (Irvine, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mexican Voices American Dreams: An Oral History of Mexican Immigration to the United States (Paperback)

The largest group of immigrants to the United States are Mexicans. In this book, the author, by mean of interviews, shows the several differences between the culture of America and Mexico.

Questions like: Why do Mexicans come here? Where do they work? What do they miss? are answered.

The experience of crossing the border, the ideas of the women and family that stay in Mexico, the reality that they find here, are also covered, and also the changes that they experiment living here, and the ideas of the children of the immigrants (chicanos).

I think that everybody who needs to understand the mexican immigration from its roots should read this book.