This collection of photographs is simply the best visual history of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the United States. Rita Arias Jirasek and Carlos Tortolero have assembled a rich photographic collection drawn primarily from private family collections dating back to the 1910s and leavened by the work of contemporary professional photographers, especially Antonio Pérez. Mexican Chicago documents the existence and evolution, far north of the border, of “a new urban mestizo culture with an identity that spans two nations” (p. 50).The photographs begin with Mexican Chicago’s roots in agricultural and railroad work in the region. By the 1920s, early settlers entered industrial employment, started small businesses, began to form families, and built vibrant colonias. Intimate snapshots alternate with studio photographs in recording lifecycle and community events such as baptisms, weddings, religious processions, and parades. The preservation of Mexican culture appears in the persistent use of traje regional for community events over the decades. North American styles, however, prevail in photos that feature sailor-suited children, zoot-suited young men, and quinceañera debutantes in white formal gowns. The book includes local heroes such as writer Sandra Cisneros, physician and activist Jorge Prieto, slain politician Rudy Lozano, and the 12 men from Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish killed in the Vietnam War (more than any other Catholic parish in the United States). Mexican Chicago contains many surprises, especially of weekend and leisure-time activities. Families planted milpas on the edge of industrial South Chicago, vital to depression and war-era households (and immortalized in fiction by Hugo Martinez-Serros). Couples danced to the Royal Castillians in the 1920s and Don Roberto and the Rum-baleros in the 1950s. After Sunday morning mass, families headed to the parks to watch the city’s Mexican baseball teams, including the St. Jude Rancheros and female teams such as the Moreloettes. By the 1960s, soccer clubs would gain popularity in Chicago, and bowling leagues brought together Mexicans from across the city. These photographs highlight Mexicans as “joiners,” eagerly participating in American and Mexican organizations from the Guadalupanas to the baile folklórico troupes, from the Manuel Pérez American Legion Post to Amigos for Daley.Mexican Chicago, part of the “Images of America” series that highlights historic communities and ethnic groups, is not a monograph. Each chapter contains a suggestive sketch of just a page, followed by dozens of photographs. Captions accompany each image, providing context and often include a quotation from the photo’s donor. The volume suggests many areas of inquiry, especially in the realm of social and cultural history. Mexican Chicago thus opens the door to much-needed research on the Mexican experience in the Midwest that moves beyond labor history. This volume provides an effective teaching tool that will engage and stimulate students in Mexican and Mexican-American history courses. Many photos raise questions on the importance and meaning of photography in a transnational context. What motivated newly-wed Bentura Villalpando to send a portrait from a Jalisco studio to her husband in the United States in 1916? Why did she and her husband have their family portrait taken in 1944 in Chicago, with their seven children?With a population of nearly one million Mexicans, Chicago has become the second largest Mexican metropolis in the United States. Vicente Fox rode horseback through the barrios of Chicago to cheering throngs during his election year. The faithful of north-central Mexico succeeded in bringing the image of the Santo Nino de Atocha from Zacatecas to St. Francis Assisi church. The 250 memorable images in Mexican Chicago remind us that Chicago forms an integral part of greater Mexico.