Customer Reviews

Occupied America: A History of Chicanos (4th Edition)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I read the 2nd edition as an undergraduate: it hardened my fledgling Chicano identity and motivated me to be an activist and complete higher education. I read the 5th edition (the longest, most thorough) cover to cover as a Chicano Studies instructor, to teach "History of the Americas." Students badly needed a Chicano intellectual perspective and exposure to the Chicano Studies discipline, especially since most texts (even Zinn's A People History of the US) marginalize or exclude Chican@s. I am currently re-reading it for my English PhD studies on Chicano Rhetoric and Epistemology at UC Riverside.
To view history as chiefly a "military" experience (as one "know-it-all-Anglo" reviewer claims is most important) is twisted, distorting and narrow; such a simplistic stance on knowledge will always lead to (a contested) "white supremacy." The real writing of history, and a more humane one, is a more arduous task, and more complex work. That is what Acuna does.
One key cornerstone of establishing Chicano Studies and formalizing a Chicano identity in this country was the writing of Chicano History; anyone who studies the seminal period of Chicano/Ethnic Studies in the late 60's understands that it was the historians and other social scientists that carved out intellectual space (along with the participation of militant student activism) at universities across the nation. In the act, they also toppled the one-sided triumphalist romanticism that was called "US history" at that time. The Revisionist movement and a global Cultural Studies tradition owe a great deal to Chicano Historians/Studies - Acuna prominent among them - who were at the trenches of this activity. Chican@ historians were also Renaissance men/women: teaching, researching, writing, mentoring, raising families, being activists at the campus and in the community (all while constantly under microscopes, defending programs from constant institutional/racist attacks). Privileged Anglo men typically and conveniently ignore Chican@ scholar realities like these. Acuna's texts, especially the 5th edition (the 1st is one of the most radical versions ideologically) is a wealth of research, interpretation and rich themes (indigenous world systems, racial identity, internal colonization, Chicano labor versus imperialistic capitalism, historically constant resistance and organizing against oppression, leadership, educational struggles); the 60's chapters are rich, exciting and detailed; the final chapters bring students up to date with modern struggles, new demographics, militarization, assimilationist movements, and future struggles. I love the philosophical ending, which calls on the reader to meditate on their own social location, on one's place in the Chicano/human struggle. For these reasons, among others, it's been called affectionately, "the Chicano bible."

Every view that we will ever see about history is a view that is skewed by personal feelings. As historians, it is our job to figure out what is fact and what is feeling. This book may not be the most objective book about the history of the Xicano people, but it spoke to me in the same way that the Anglo child finds solace in the played out text books found in school. I relate to the stories that Acuna tells, and I enjoy his point of view. He is a wonderful historian, and worthy of being put in the same class as Zinn (A people's history of the U.S.) I hope you enjoy this book, and listen to the frustration in the writing. It is the key to the Chicano's history in a society where Anglo paradigms edit the truth.

Critical Scholarship that offers a comprehensive, in-depth analysis of the major historical experiences of Chicanos that actually invokes critical thinking and discussion. I highly recommend this book to anyone aiming to understand how history might look from the point of view of the oppressed and not the oppressor.

Dr. Acuña's book, which might more properly be termed a diatribe, is based on the stunning revelations that superior military power often defeats inferior forces, and that war is, by its nature, cruel, particularly to the populations of the nations which are defended by the aforementioned inferior forces. In the events Dr. Acuña analyzes, the northward movement of the culturally Hispanic colonizers of North America was met by the westward movement of the culturally British colonizers of North America. (Neither, let it be said, was kind to the original occupants.) In this conflict, the culturally Hispanic colonizers were soundly defeated. It is a commonplace that, to those who fail to grasp the very simple dialectic of the history of armed conflict, the losers are always oppressed and the victors are always merciless. This "insight" underlies Dr. Acuña's work, and while it is interesting as a catalog of grievances which will never be redressed, it hardly qualifies as a scholarly work of history. If anyone were interested, it would be possible to compile a detailed account of the cruelties imposed on the innocent by the army of Mexico in the process of their rout by the American forces. Fortunately for our schoolchildren, no-one is interested.

expensive and boring
focused too much on stats rather than history
very biased comments

R Acuña's treatise of Mexican Americans (now called Chicanos or Pochos) includes what many would call 'the Underside of American History' (search title). The fact is, America waged war against the Mexicans, using many of the same methods that we now accuse those of Iraq or Bosnia of using, and differs little from the 'ethnic cleansing or genocide of the modern world. In school, most US Americans are given a glossed-over summary of key US propaganda regarding the history lessons that politicians want people to know, rather than an objective, 'tell-it-like-it-is/was' history that encompasses true social responsibility.
The wars waged against the mostly poor mexican countrymen, living in Mexican territory, under siege from an offensive US American anglo army, parallel little of the 'good american' reputation widely distributed today. The author, in his extensive research, pulls up countless accounts of slaughter, rape, torture, mutilation, and abuse of mexican men, women, children, mostly incited as a sort of blood sport by American cavalry, enlisted men, volunteers, and associates, as well as the leveling of Mexican cities and towns just for target practice. To add to the war crimes, most of the Americans involved, even the command of Zachary Taylor, were never brought up on any charges, nor even in the most slightest way, reprimanded for their actions. Of course, if the truth were known by many, or the school kids of today taught the real truth, Perhaps people would have an entirely different view of what America Wants vs. what America will do to get it.

What Acuna talks about in this vast overview is very true and enlightening. However, it purports to be a history book, and all great history books must be objective. Unfortunately, by being a textbook for a discipline that calls for a very narrow minded view of history (namely, that of the Chicano exploitation by the United States), it cannot possibly be objective. Acuna resorts to name-calling and demonizing those who oppressed Chicanos and although it is deserved, in a history text slandering is verbotem if the text is to be respected. What this book amounts to is a one-sided argument, although in all fairness the other side would have to be the "official" US history that academia has forced on us.

For all of you that got a little queasy during middle school history lessons, this book pinpoints the source of your nausea. By now, most of us realize the true nature of white Americans push westward from the 18th century onward. It was a cruel, intrusive robbery that stole, raped and destroyed the dynamic culture and societies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. However, little is ever discussed about the entirely different and much older paradigm of U.S. history: the push from the south to the north.

Acuna examines the nature of the Spanish and Indian cultures that amalgamated and moved forward, only to collide with the U.S. expansion in the Mexican War. He also looks at the many levels of exploitation the mexican-american people have faced over the centuries and current movements to stop or reverse these practices. A fascinating book and an enlightening adventure.

I am a PhD Candidate in Political Science at the Claremont Graduate University and found this book by Dr. Rodolfo Acuña excellent, objective and well researched. The only persons who would not like this book would be from the extreme right wing who do not like true history to be written.

When I sat in school learning about George Washington for about the thousandth time, my teachers started to wonder why I was becoming disenchanted with school. I wasn't educated enough (at the time) to realize that I wasn't the problem, the material I was being force fed was the problem. Occupied America fills in the gaps in my history. When a student is developing a self identity it is important that he or she has heros and sheros that they can identify with. This book gives those student (of all ages 7-70) that are Chicano a chance to see effective heros that made/make a difference in our every day lives. I recomend this book to anyone that will be teaching a history class with a multicultural focus, (and every teacher should be since we live in a multicultural society.)