The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 89, July 1985 - April, 1986 Page: 564

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

viously not very conversant with the 1862 Texan invasion of New Mex-
ico, which Carson helped defeat, confusing significant locations such as
Johnson's Ranch and Pigeon's Ranch when describing the battles of
Apache Canyon and Glorieta, and citing as their source for many state-
ments an obscure 1947 article in Colorado Magazine. Much relevant ma-
terial has been discovered and published since that time.
The authors more than compensate, however, in their excellent treat-
ment of Carson's postwar military service, especially his activities at Fort
Garland and in northern New Mexico. His close, amicable relationship
with General James H. Carleton, the often abrasive departmental com-
mander, was a key element during that 1862-1867 period, and the
book examines that relationship thoroughly.
Kit Carson's name was familiar to a great many Americans during his
lifetime, and is even more widely recognized today. As an excellent in-
troduction to the life of one of the West's finest figures and a genuine
hero, this very readable and authoritative biography can be highly
recommended.
Kirtland AFB, New Mexico DON E. ALBERTS
La Familia: Chicano Families in the Urban Southwest, 1848 to the Present. By
Richard Griswold del Castillo. (Notre Dame: Notre Dame Press,
1984, Pp. xv+ 173- Preface, tables, photographs, appendices, notes,
bibliography, index. $18.95, cloth; $7.97, paper.)
Though sociologists and anthropologists have paid due attention to
the Chicano family, the focus of their studies has been the contempo-
rary unit. Hence, Richard Griswold del Castillo's La Familia is the first
historical overview of the subject. The author advances the thesis that
since the mid-nineteenth century, persistent tension has existed be-
tween the ideals and expectations that Mexican Americans have re-
garding family life and the economic, social, and political realities of
the American capitalist society.
Over time, the author argues, numerous forces have had an effect on
the Mexican American family. Declining job opportunities, for one
thing, have forced Chicano males to search out jobs farther afield, so
that wives have been left in charge of the family. A certain ideal of the
dominant male and of female virtue was thus challenged, and tradi-
tional patriarchy diluted. Such conditions, however, did not alter fam-
ily cohesion. By developing support networks, such as the extended
family, compadrazqo, and mutualist societies, Mexican Americans suc-
cessfully warded off the impact on familism. Immigration and inter-
marriage also affected the ideal of the family, but cultural patterns

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