The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 89, July 1985 - April, 1986 Page: 569

Book Reviews

One of the great strengths of Weaver's book is his exhaustive use of
source material. In addition to the official published correspondence,
he has combed the Archives Division of the Texas State Library, Catho-
lic and Lutheran church records, the files of the General Land Office
and certain county courthouses, and has utilized a wide variety of pri-
vate collections. His broad coverage has made it possible for him to
treat not only Castro's enterprise but also, for purposes of comparison,
those of other empresarios.
If criticism there be, it concerns the detached attitude maintained by
the author throughout most of the narrative. The result is a peculiarly
bloodless account of a record of human struggle and distress. Only oc-
casionally and laconically does he come to grips with his man. Weaver
admits that Castro used "unethical, if not illegal, business practices to
achieve his ends" (p. 88). Yet he can still credit him with a desire to do
"fine work for his fellow man" (p. 88). To this reader the judgment that
Castro possessed a "glib tongue and an easy conscience" (p. 122) is too
tolerant a view of one who could, knowingly and over a period of years,
pursue personal profit from the hardship and misery of others.
University of Texas at Austin NANCY N. BARKER
San Angeleios: Mexican Americans in San Angelo, Texas. By Arnoldo De
Le6n. (San Angelo, Tex.: Fort Concho Museum Press, 1985.
Pp. 176. Preface, maps, photographs, footnotes, appendix, bibli-
ography, index. $25, cloth; $12.95, paper.)
San Angelo is not one of the new West Texas cities like Odessa, Mid-
land, and Lubbock. Its builders were a nineteenth-century frontier
stock, only three decades removed from the Republic of Texas. The
community of San Angelo thus enjoyed a more stable development in
its formative years. Mexican-Americans of this city, the San Angelefios,
likewise differ from many other Mexican-Americans in the state.
The Mexican-American community has been an integral part of San
Angelo since it was a small outpost of old Fort Concho. And in this brief,
local history, Arnoldo De Le6n portrays the early Mexican-Americans as
citizens who played a vital role in politics and society on the frontier. In
so doing, the author accomplishes one of his main objectives.
De Le6n currently lives in San Angelo, and intends this work as a
chronicle of historical events and themes associated with his community.
The author has plied his trade as a research historian, pouring over
volumes of primary sources. Censuses, land titles, and court records
are the fountains of historical fact for San Angelenos. And although De

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