Mexicans in the Midwest, 1900-1932

by Juan Ramon García

Early in this century, a few Mexican migrants began streaming northward into the Midwest, but by 1914 - in response to jobs created by the war in Europe and a booming U.S. economy - the stream had become a flood. Barely a generation later, this so-called Immigrant Generation of Mexicans was displaced and returned to the U.S. Southwest or to Mexico. Here is a book that persuasively challenges many prevailing assumptions about Mexican people and the communities they established in the Midwest. The author notes the commonalities and differences between Mexicans in that region and their compadres who settled elsewhere. He further demonstrates that although Mexicans in the Midwest maintained a strong sense of cultural identity, they were quick to adopt the consumer culture and other elements of U.S. life that met their needs.