Introducing a new model for the transnational history of the United States, Ra l Ramos places Mexican Americans at the center of the Texas creation story. He focuses on Mexican-Texan, or Tejano, society in a period of political transition beginning with the year of Mexican independence. Ramos explores the factors that helped shape the ethnic identity of the Tejano population, including cross-cultural contacts between Bexare os, indigenous groups, and Anglo-Americans, as they negotiated the contingencies and pressures on the frontier of competing empires.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of the United States, Mexico or Texas. Dr. Ramos traces the history of San Antonio, Texas from a Spanish colonial outpost, through Mexican independence, Anglo colonization, secession from Mexico, annexation by the United States all the wa up to the threshold of the Civil War. Along the way, he asks who were the residents of San Antonio and how did they view the events surrounding them. The history raises interesting questions about what the terms "Mexican," "Texan," and "American" mean. In unpacking the complex meaning of these words, Dr. Ramos challenges some of our most basic notions about Texas and US history. This history raises interesting questions about the current debate over immigation by raising such qustions as: Who ar the immigrants? What is a border between to multicultural nations? How does ethnicity get defined and does that definition change over time. Dr. Ramos' style is clear and chronological and this book is suitable for the academic or lay reader.
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