From Indians to Chicanos: The Dynamics of Mexican-American Culture

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 324 pages
• Published by: Waveland Press
• Edition: 2nd Edition October 1997
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0881339768
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0881339765
• Book Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Weighs: 15.2 ounces

Product Description
Considered a pioneering achievement when first published nearly two decades ago, From Indians to Chicanos--now in a completely revised second edition--continues to offer readers an informed and penetrating approach to the history of Chicano development. Anthropologist-historian Diego Vigil shows a perceptive and knowledgeable background in brief, clear outlines of each stage of Mexican-American history, charting the culture change sequences in the Pre-Columbian, Spanish Colonial, Mexican Independence and Nationalism, and Anglo-American periods. He analyzes not only the events and the underlying conditions that affect them but also the dynamics that shaped contemporary Chicano life. The author has absorbed an enormous amount of information and has condensed it in a very readable and understandable fashion. Vigil's ethnohistorical introduction to the Mexican- American experience in the United States is simple yet comprehensive so that readers clearly understand historical developments and the specific socioeconomic, sociocultural and sociopsychological forces involved.

Reader Reviews
The history and culture of Central America is so fascinating, and I learned so much from studying abroad in Belize and Guatemala this summer, but I could not get through this book. The writing is dry and fails to present the ideas in a coherent and exciting way. The book is weighted down by its heavy historical sections, which are written much like a grade school textbook, not in the elegant and engaging style of great writers like Sherry Ortner. Don't get me wrong...I love history, especially this particular topic. But despite its title, this book fails to emphasize the dynamics of the rich history and mixed culture of Central America and display those dynamics to the reader.