The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 94, July 1990 - April, 1991 Page: 144

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

Policy in San Antonio," by Joseph D. Sekul; "Changes in Hispanic Local
Public Employment in the Southwest," by Susan Welch, Albert K. Kar-
nig, and Richard Eribes; and "Ethnicity and Policy: The Mexican-
American Perspective," by Rodolfo O. de la Garza, Robert D. Wrinkle,
and Jerry L. Polinard.
In a concluding essay the editor suggests that accommodative and
conventional tactics in pursuing Latino political, social, and economic
goals appear to be advisable, that coalition politics must be one of the
major strategies, and that it is at the local community level where most
Latino involvement in interest-group politics will take place. He fur-
ther expresses skepticism that a cohesive Latino "community" exists.
The purpose of the book is to examine Latinos' places in the United
States political system and to assist the reader to formulate a prognosis.
It is also intended to identify gaps in studies on Latino nationality
groups, for example, in the clarification of parameters of political and
cultural identifications within and among Latino groups, how these
groups feel about themselves and other Latino groups, as well as their
identifications with the United States political community. In this re-
spect the anthologist meets his goal. The book is one of the more com-
prehensive works on Latino politics available. It will appeal to the spe-
cialist and to the general reader.
Southwest Texas State University LEONARD CARDENAS, JR.
New Mexican Furniture, i6oo- 194o: The Origins, Survival, and Revival
of Furniture Making in the Hispanic Southwest. By Lonn Taylor and
Dessa Bokides. (Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, 1987.
Pp. xvi+3 11. Illustrations, bibliography, index.)
Lonn Taylor and Dessa Bokides have, in New Mexican Furniture,
i6oo- 194o: The Origzns, Survival, and Revival of Furniture Making zn the
Hispanic Southwest, made a major contribution both to the literature of
this region and to the study of material culture. The holistic view of the
study of the past that has always characterized Taylor's work as an au-
thor and as a curator reaches a new level in this volume. Combining the
disciplines of art history, history, folklore, literature, oral history, cul-
tural geography, and material culture in one book, Taylor and Bokides
have given us a thoroughgoing statement about the nature of life in
New Mexico from earliest Spanish settlement to the coming of World
War II as seen through its furniture.
In truth, the study actually begins with the first explorations of Coro-
nado rather than 16oo and carries the account to the years preceding
World War II with the coming of the WPA programs that had a major
impact on our perception of traditional New Mexican furniture. Ex-

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