Crucible of Struggle: A History of Mexican Americans from Colonial Time to the Present Era
Zaragosa Vargas
Crucible of Struggle: A History of Mexican Americans from Colonial Times to the Present Era, by Zaragosa Vargas, provides the reader a detailed chronological account of the Mexican American historical experience and how it takes its place in American History. Vargas focuses this experience within the geographical location of what is now the United States. This is why Vargas begins his book with the colonization of what is now New Mexico in 1598 by Spaniards and their interactions with Native Americans, and finishes it in 2008 with Obama’s presidential campaign. Vargas’ use of chronology allows the reader to better understand the diverse social, economic and political struggles Mexican Americans have faced and how they have affected our present generation over time. Vargas does a great job in capturing the reader’s attention with his accessible writing style and allows the reader not only to embark in a detailed and informative journey of the Mexican American experience, but also paves the way for the reader to really submerge him or herself in the different time periods described in the book. After addressing the struggles Mexican Americans have endured throughout the centuries, Vargas believes that there is a new “political awakening” among the “new generation” of Mexican Americans who are “demanding the equality America promises but fails to deliver.” |
Zaragosa Vargas is a Distinguished Professor of History at the University of North Carolina and conducts research of nineteenth-century, twentieth-century, and recent Latino history and American labor history.
Crucible of Struggle is a publication by the Oxford University Press and can be purchased through their website. Click here to purchase.
Crucible of Struggle is a publication by the Oxford University Press and can be purchased through their website. Click here to purchase.
Reviewed by
Alan Gerardo Padilla Aguilar 2/17/2016 Comment Box is loading comments...
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