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Rebirth: Mexican Los Angeles from the Great Migration to the Great Depression
This sweeping, vibrant narrative chronicles the history of the Mexican community in Los Angeles. Douglas Monroy unravels the dramatic, complex story of Mexican immigration to Los Angeles during the early decades of the twentieth century and shows how Mexican immigrants re-created their lives and their communities. Against the backdrop of this newly created cityscape, Rebirth explores pivotal aspects of Mexican Los Angeles during this time―its history, political economy, popular culture―and depicts the creation of a time and place unique in Californian and American history.
Mexican boxers, movie stars, politicians, workers, parents, and children, American popular culture and schools, and historical fervor on both sides of the border all come alive in this literary, jargon-free chronicle. In addition to the colorful unfolding of the social and cultural life of Mexican Los Angeles, Monroy tells a story of first-generation immigrants that provides important points of comparison for understanding other immigrant groups in the United States.
Monroy shows how the transmigration of space, culture, and reality from Mexico to Los Angeles became neither wholly American nor Mexican, but México de afuera , "Mexico outside," a place where new concerns and new lives emerged from what was both old and familiar. This extremely accessible work uncovers the human stories of a dynamic immigrant population and shows the emergence of a truly transnational history and culture. Rebirth provides an integral piece of Chicano history, as well as an important element of California urban history, with the rich, synthetic portrait it gives of Mexican Los Angeles.
Mexican boxers, movie stars, politicians, workers, parents, and children, American popular culture and schools, and historical fervor on both sides of the border all come alive in this literary, jargon-free chronicle. In addition to the colorful unfolding of the social and cultural life of Mexican Los Angeles, Monroy tells a story of first-generation immigrants that provides important points of comparison for understanding other immigrant groups in the United States.
Monroy shows how the transmigration of space, culture, and reality from Mexico to Los Angeles became neither wholly American nor Mexican, but México de afuera , "Mexico outside," a place where new concerns and new lives emerged from what was both old and familiar. This extremely accessible work uncovers the human stories of a dynamic immigrant population and shows the emergence of a truly transnational history and culture. Rebirth provides an integral piece of Chicano history, as well as an important element of California urban history, with the rich, synthetic portrait it gives of Mexican Los Angeles.
332 pages, Paperback
First published May 2, 1999
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July 30, 2016
This is an academic book with such a complete coverage of its subject that it blows my mind. It sliced this subject into very thin slices and covered every aspect. Not only that, but it documented and footnoted every assertion, which I appreciate, because I want to make sure that the conclusions I'm reading are well supported. The prose may have been dense in spots, but it wasn't bad writing, by any means. And in spots, this guy got very passionate, indeed.
And there's a lot to get passionate about. The discrimination that Monroy documents is horrible and deeply embedded. From this book, I learned that Mexican-American students of that period were often classified as retarded, even though there were clear causes of their low achievement. They were often pulled out of school for the harvest. Frequently, their family moved from school to school depending on their parents' work. Not to mention that they often didn't even speak the language, not to mention the denigration of their teachers and neighbors, not to mention their pervasive poverty, which was enforced due to their race.
This book goes deeply into the culture of Sonoratown, as the area around Olvera Street used to be called in those days. It goes into their religion, their entertainment, their job prospects, their wages, their crimes, their cultural conflicts, the whole thing. If you want to learn about your Mexican grandfather's life, as I did, this is the book for you.
And there's a lot to get passionate about. The discrimination that Monroy documents is horrible and deeply embedded. From this book, I learned that Mexican-American students of that period were often classified as retarded, even though there were clear causes of their low achievement. They were often pulled out of school for the harvest. Frequently, their family moved from school to school depending on their parents' work. Not to mention that they often didn't even speak the language, not to mention the denigration of their teachers and neighbors, not to mention their pervasive poverty, which was enforced due to their race.
This book goes deeply into the culture of Sonoratown, as the area around Olvera Street used to be called in those days. It goes into their religion, their entertainment, their job prospects, their wages, their crimes, their cultural conflicts, the whole thing. If you want to learn about your Mexican grandfather's life, as I did, this is the book for you.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review