"This story has never been told either as well or as comprehensively as in Garcia's book."

--David Rieff, Times Literary Supplement

"Garcia has crafted a provocative and important work....a much-needed and welcome addition to the sparse historical literature on Mexican Americans in the postdepression era."

--Juan R. Garcia, American Historical Review

Yale University Press Web Site, March, 2000

A pioneering political and intellectual history of the Chicano leaders who emerged from the barrios of the Southwest between 1930 and 1960--Carlos Casta-eda, George I. Sanchez, Arthur L. Campa, and others--and of their effort to capture firstclass citizenship for Mexican Americans. Drawing extensively on archival material and oral history, Mario T. García discusses the key figures, organizations, and issues of the movement; in so doing he casts new light not only on Chicano history but also on the histories of American ethnicity and civil rights movements.