The Mexican Americans

Most of the biggest ethnic groups in North America today were established through large-scale immigration from Europe or Asia in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Mexican-American community is different. The bulk of Mexican immigration to the United States has taken place over the past 50 years. And Mexicans continue arriving in large numbers, both legally and illegally.

School Library Journal

Gr 4-7-These offerings suffer from poor organization, dull writing, oversimplification that occasionally results in inaccuracies, and the inclusion of extraneous material. Land is a cursory summary of U.S. and Canadian immigration history that fails to give due emphasis to the heaviest periods of immigration. The index is for another book in the series, The Cuban Americans. The text box "Why Become a Citizen?" in Your Rights is the most relevant part of this slim volume; the chapters on U.S. immigration history and, oddly enough, the rights of U.S. citizens, which boringly covers the three branches of government and the amendments to the Constitution, are basically filler. Another chapter describes the process of becoming a naturalized citizen. The disorganized Mexican Americans intersperses chapters on Mexican immigration with others on Cesar Chavez and personal immigration stories. It contains border history only loosely tied in to its effects on immigration. U.S.-born Joan Baez and Lee Trevino are Mexican Americans, but certainly not "Mexican Immigrants" as listed in the appendix. "Further Reading" misses standard works in the field. The pedestrian formats include boxed texts to expand material, black-and-white and color photos, and reproductions of artwork. The delicate typeface used for the main texts and the small boldface type used for boxes and appendixes are difficult to read.-Diane S. Marton, Arlington County Library, VA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.