The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 106, July 2002 - April, 2003 Page: 153
675 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews
153
the homeland, but the terms for the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo the following
year included stipulations negotiated by Mexico that the property rights of for-
mer Mexican citizens who chose to remain in the New Mexico Territory would be
protected. Loyalists to Mexico, on the other hand, had the option of relocating to
lands in Chihuahua to be provided and financed by the Mexican government.
Part I of the volume concludes with a chapter on the Gorra Blancas, a people's
movement during the 189os in San Miguel County, the most populous area in
the New Mexico Territory. By this time, many Hispanos were convinced that the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was not protecting their community land grants
from Anglo encroachment, land-grabbing, and outright thievery. In protest, the
Gorras Blancas, or White Caps, destroyed fences that denied them access to graz-
ing and water sources on the Las Vegas Land Grant, attacked railroad and
sawmill properties as retaliation for their exploitive practices, and burned
haystacks on the ranches owned by wealthy merchants.
Part II of the book covers the major events of the twentieth century affecting in
some way the status of New Mexico as a Hispano homeland; the debates over the
benefits of statehood, eventually perceived by Hzspanos as a way to retain some
control over their common destiny; public education policies and the state consti-
tutional provisions in 1910 that the voting, educational, and language rights of
Nuevomexczanos would be protected; increased political development by Hispanos
and especially the ascension of Hispanas to elected offices; continuance of culture
and language during the more recent periods of Mexican immigration to New
Mexico and the transformation of Hispano villages in the urban environment.
The Contested Homeland more than achieves its stated purpose. The Chicano
perspective is manifested throughout the editors' essays and the ten author
chapters. One key to the success of the book lies in the careful planning that is
evident in the structure of the volume, the designation of chapter topics, and,
extremely important, the selection of expert authors with deep knowledge of
their assigned topics. The book imparts to ordinary readers knowledge of critical
historical events (the chapter topics) that heretofore have been accessed mostly
by historians and specialized scholars in the field. The clear organization and
presentation of the topics makes the book a natural for use as a textbook reader
in undergraduate college courses on ethnic relations, Southwest history and pol-
itics, Border and Chicano studies, American culture, and others.
University of New Mexico Jost A. RIVERA
Hzstorza: The Lzterary Makzng of Chzcana and Chicano History. By Louis Gerard
Mendoza. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2001. Pp. ix+336.
Acknowledgments, appendices, notes, index. ISBN 1-58544-179-1. $24.95,
paper.)
This book adopts an inter-disciplinary approach in analyzing "the literary mak-
ing of Chicana and Chicano history." Influenced by contemporary cultural stud-
ies, literary criticism, and Chicano history, this book is path breaking. Historians
with an inter-disciplinary leaning will find it most useful. Even historians who do
not understand or use cultural studies will find brilliant and useful analyses of
major works in Tejano and Chicano history. In particular, Mendoza has written2002
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 106, July 2002 - April, 2003, periodical, 2003; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101223/m1/181/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.