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by Gregory Rodriguez
Wide-ranging and provocative, Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds offers an unprecedented account of the long-term cultural and political influences that Mexican Americans will have on the collective character of our nation.
In considering the largest immigrant group in American history, Gregory Rodriguez examines the complexities of its heritage and of the racial and cultural synthesis--mestizaje--that has defined the Mexican people since the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century. Rodriguez deftly delineates the effects of mestizaje throughout the centuries, traces the northern movement of this "mongrelization," explores the emergence of a new Mexican American identity in the 1930s, and analyzes the birth and death of the Chicano movement. Vis-a-vis the present era of Mexican American confidence, he persuasively argues that the rapidly expanding Mexican American integration in to the mainstream is changing not only how Americans think about race but how we envision our nation.
Deeply informative--as historically sound as it is anecdotally rich, brilliantly reasoned, and highly though provoking--Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds is a major contribution to the discussion of the cultural and political future of the United States.
An in-depth look at the history of the mestizo, which originally meant children from a Spanish parent and an Indian one, but which came to describe Mexicans as there country became a mestizo one. Eventually, Mexican-Americans would be included in that description.
Though there is a great deal of information, both about the people and the land, the book is never dry. Rather, it’s a fascinating trip through the history of Mexico and the land that would become the American Southwest.
What struck me the most was how the more things change, the more they stay the same. Every time the economy took a dive, immigrants from south of the border would be blamed, and draconian laws would be put into affect. Sound familiar? But there is no learning from history. It didn’t stop the flow north before; I doubt it will this time, either.
( Mount TBR 2018 Book Links )
Wide-ranging and provocative, Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds offers an unprecedented account of the long-term cultural and political influences that Mexican Americans will have on the collective character of our nation.
In considering the largest immigrant group in American history, Gregory Rodriguez examines the complexities of its heritage and of the racial and cultural synthesis--mestizaje--that has defined the Mexican people since the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century. Rodriguez deftly delineates the effects of mestizaje throughout the centuries, traces the northern movement of this "mongrelization," explores the emergence of a new Mexican American identity in the 1930s, and analyzes the birth and death of the Chicano movement. Vis-a-vis the present era of Mexican American confidence, he persuasively argues that the rapidly expanding Mexican American integration in to the mainstream is changing not only how Americans think about race but how we envision our nation.
Deeply informative--as historically sound as it is anecdotally rich, brilliantly reasoned, and highly though provoking--Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds is a major contribution to the discussion of the cultural and political future of the United States.
An in-depth look at the history of the mestizo, which originally meant children from a Spanish parent and an Indian one, but which came to describe Mexicans as there country became a mestizo one. Eventually, Mexican-Americans would be included in that description.
Though there is a great deal of information, both about the people and the land, the book is never dry. Rather, it’s a fascinating trip through the history of Mexico and the land that would become the American Southwest.
What struck me the most was how the more things change, the more they stay the same. Every time the economy took a dive, immigrants from south of the border would be blamed, and draconian laws would be put into affect. Sound familiar? But there is no learning from history. It didn’t stop the flow north before; I doubt it will this time, either.
( Mount TBR 2018 Book Links )
