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Abstract
The Zoot Suit Riots have been traditionally associated with Mexican Americans in Southern California, but dozens of similar racial incidents occurred throughout the United States during the summer of 1943. Chapters One and Two focus on American nationalism and issues of race, ethnicity, gender, and class as they figured into World War II and the Zoot Suit Riots nationally. Chapter Three examines the role of mass media, and their publishers, in spreading the riots, and Chapter Four explores how zoot suiters and their defenders "talked back" to these media giants and their audiences. Chapter Five is devoted to women in zoot suit culture and their roles in the racial incidents of 1943. Chapter Six concludes by exploring the paradoxes of nationalism surrounding the Zoot Suit Riots, World War II, and notions of "democracy," and "Americanism."
