The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 107, July 2003 - April, 2004 Page: 472

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

That said, a few flaws are worthy of note. The book ends abruptly after
Chapter Eight. Without question, it would have benefited from a conclusion that
summarized the main points and placed the experiences of Fort Worth
Mexicans into historical perspective. In addition, Cuellar overlooks for the most
part the many other books about urban Chicanos. Incorporating the findings of,
say, Arnoldo de Le6n in Ethnicity in the Sunbelt (1989), George J. Sainchez in
Becoming Mexican American (1993), and Zaragosa Vargas in Proletartans of the
North (1993) would have demonstrated how Fort Worth compared to other parts
of the United States as a home for Mexicans. Only specialists in Chicano history
will be able to see similarities and differences; non-specialists will miss out on
this important part of historical analysis.
These shortcomings, though, detract little from Cudllar's accomplishment.
He has written a fine book that fills a substantial gap in urban historiography.
Stories from the Barrio belongs on the bookshelf of any serious student of
Chicano history.
Southern Methodist University Jost A. RAMIREZ
Mestizo Democracy: The Polztics of Crosszng Borders. By John Francis Burke. Foreword
by Virgilio Elizondo. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2oo2.
Pp. xi+304. Foreword, preface, index. ISBN 1-58544-20o8-9. $39.95, cloth.)
This clearly written book-length essay argues for an inclusive vision of
American citizenship that borrows from and revitalizes the Mexican philosophy
and theology of mestizaje. More a philosophical treatise than historical mono-
graph, Burke details the various modern debates over citizenship and globaliza-
tion as they developed within the fields of politics, theology, and social science
in the United States and Mexico. Mestzzo Democracy is an argument for a new
inclusive form of citizenship. According to Burke, this new form of citizenship
has the potential to allow for the merger of universal aspects of American citi-
zenship with those aspects of Mexican society and religious praxis that accept
cultural borrowing and hybridism. To achieve this, Burke calls for "unity-in-
diversity," a form of mestizaje (in this case social and political mixing) that moves
"beyond a possessive, tight scripting of cultural identities to engage and foster
the intersection of multiple cultural groups in an inclusive, democratic fashion"
(p. 15). Mestizo Democracy will be most useful for those historians interested in a
finely crafted intellectual history that links Mexican and American versions of
the individual, the state, and religion in arguing for a new political framework
for modern society in the Americas.
Notre Dame University MARC RODRIGUEZ
Felix Longoria's Wake: Bereavement, Racism, and the Rise of Mexican American Activism. By
Patrick J. Carroll. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003. Pp. xviii+27o.
Foreword, acknowledgments, photographs, map, tables, notes, works cited,
index. ISBN 0-292-71246-4. $45.00, cloth. ISBN 0-292-71249-9. $19-95, paper.)

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