Customer Reviews

Revolution in Texas: How a Forgotten Rebellion and Its Bloody Suppression Turned Mexicans into Americans

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The events surrounding the Plan of San Diego are well described and analyzed by Johnson. This is one of the best histories published regarding Latinos in Texas. He does an excellent job of joining the available archival information with previously published research. A must read for anyone who wants to know more about Texas history. This is not just a story about ethnic differences, its a story about land, violence, and power.

I first heard about the Plan of San Diego at a Hispanic genealogy conference in Texas about 20 years ago. A now famous academic had given a talk at the conference -- we had a long conversation afterwards and he told me about the event in South Texas. I was shocked, thinking I knew so much about Texas history and did not know about the Plan, Luis de la Rosa and of course the 5,000 or so that were killed in retaliation for the insurrection.

Johnson did a great job of presenting this part of lost history.

Where to begin? What a sad, depressing tale. So it took the lynching of 5000 Mexican-Americans down below the Nueces River in Texas in 1915 to turn Mexicans into Americans? Somehow seems like there could have been a better way. It's easy to forget, reading history, that these were real people, with real lives, with real families, real loved ones who mourned them. It's easy to forget from the vantage of our secure, modern cocoons just how cheap life can be where the lust for money and power is involved. Human history is a tale of blood and carnage and American history is no exception. A must read for those who seek insight into important issues facing our nation today.

Ben Johnson's study of the Plan de San Diego uprising is so much more than just border history. It touches on international relations, military strategy, identity politics, historiography, demographics, labor history, and how the Texas Rangers got their name. Far more than a 9 year old like me should care about when I could be reading Harry Potter. But he makes the story compelling and relevant. This seemingly isolated movement suggests a great deal about contemporary ethnic and national conflicts around the world. So rush to your local library to borrow this book!