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Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity. By David G. Gutierrez. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995. xiv, 320 pp. Cloth, $40.00, ISBN 0-520-08322-9. Paper, $15.00, ISBN 0-520-20219-8.)
This volume, by Professor David G. Gutierrez, addresses the important topic of how the relative fissure between United States citizens of Mexican descent and Mexican immigrants has been dealt with by community political organizations. This issue is central to an understanding of the origin and evolution of Mexican American political organizations, beginning with the foundation of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in Texas in the 1920s. Throughout, Gutierrez problematizes approaches to Mexican American political history that rely on representative generations.
The case of LULAC is illustrative While for some historians this organization's focus on American citizens, its concern with Americanization,...