Mexican-American History: An Assessment

Abstract

G ENERAL HISTORIES The most remarkable fact about Mexican-American history is Carey McWilliams.' For a full generation McWilliams was the sole authority in this field, a sort of Lone Ranger coming to the aid of a neglected people by writing the first general history of Mexican Americans. As it turned out, his book, North from Mexico: The Spanish-Speaking People of the United States (Lippincott, 1949; reprinted by Greenwood Press, 1968), was no pedestrian survey, but, rather, an inspired synthesis of the Mexican-American heritage. Today, depending on one's point of view, this work is considered either a classic of southwestern history, or a classic of social-protest literature, or both. More to the point, this single volume has exercised an extraordinary influence over the emergent profession of Mexican-American studies.