The Power of the Zoot: Youth Culture and Resistance during World War II (Volume 24)

by Luis Álvarez

Flamboyant zoot suit culture, with its ties to fashion, jazz and swing music, jitterbug and Lindy Hop dancing, unique patterns of speech, and even risqué experimentation with gender and sexuality, captivated the country's youth in the 1940s. The Power of the Zoot is the first book to give national consideration to this famous phenomenon. Providing a new history of youth culture based on rare, in-depth interviews with former zoot-suiters, Luis Alvarez explores race, region, and the politics of culture in urban America during World War II. He argues that Mexican American and African American youths, along with many nisei and white youths, used popular culture to oppose accepted modes of youthful behavior, the dominance of white middle-class norms, and expectations from within their own communities.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Fashion, Sociology, Race, American History, Latinx

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Stephm · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The author's voice really came through; he managed to capture the culture surrounding the Zoot suits. A great professor too!

[Alex Milton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luis Alvarez’s The Power of the Zoot: Youth Culture and Resistance During World War II covers zoot suit cultural resistance and discrimination within Los Angeles during the Second World War Homefront. The book’s three parts discuss the origins of zoot suit culture and jazz culture alongside significant racial discrimination against African Americans and Mexican Americans on the Homefront.Alvarez argues that young African American and Mexican American men engaged in zoot suit culture to challenge social norms in the wake of immense racism on the Second World War Homefront. The final part of the book centers pushback against Mexican American cultural resistance through rising violent altercations that led to the Zoot Suit Riots. Her book contextualizes the 1943 Los Angeles Zoot Suit Riots in a wider social movement encompassing young Mexican American and African American men and women. Zoot suit masculinity and femininity clashed with the heroic masculinity of armed servicemen. Alvarez contributes to World War II Homefront historiography by including the young women in his analysis of zoot suit culture. He argues that the short skirts, makeup, and coats that became popular among young Mexican American was part of larger zoot suit culture, with women rejecting the social norms of previous generations and resisting discrimination.

[Mariah Oleszkowicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. It was a slog to read at times, but identified multiple cause and views of the Zoot suit riots and put in context many race riots that occurred during 1943. A lot of the struggles were about patriotism (and participating in the fight against Hitler) vs. personal identity and the lack of equality because of race - exactly what they were fighting for in Europe.

" Several fact-finding missions in LA, for example, discovered that juvenile delinquency among white youth, both male and female, had risen more sharply than that of Mexican American or African American youth in 1941 and 1942." p 44

The poem by Langston Hughes on page 232 was fantastic - especially the following stanza:
"You tell me that hitler
Is a mighty bad man
I guess he took lessons
From the ku klux klan"

"... violence was a statement about the inequality of wartime society. The race riots of 1943 showed that many in the US, like the zoot suiters among them, refused to accept a home front that excluded them, treated them as second-class citizens, and routinely denied their dignity." p 234

[Stephanie Beltran · Rating 5 out of 5]

GREAT BOOK! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good view of mid 20th century youth culture. If you enjoyed this, consider supplementing it with Richard Wright’s “Black Boy” or Octavio Paz’s “Labyrinth of Solitude”.

[Brandon Milton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic overview of the struggles faced by minority youth during World War II and the ways in which the everyday person resisted mainstream sensibilities.

Through his text, Alvarez's voice shines through and the book remains fairly entertaining throughout. The large collection of primary sources also make the book last through time, making it just as accessible to those today as it will be to readers 50 years into the future.

The book explores the overarching themes of struggle, resistance, and retaliation that minorities go through during World War II. As a detailed analysis through a cultural, not political, viewpoint, the work attempts to justify actions through the individual and how s/he feels. This analysis is both refreshing and eye opening.

[Benemint · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very rich cultural and well-grounded history. There are many themes cutting across in this book -- youth, race, war, working-class, violence, etc.

[Tessa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Great Prof, just didn't like this book