"This is a much-needed study of a neglected period in the history of the Mexican-American struggle against discrimination. The author successfully bridges the gap between studies of the Immigrant Period and Chicano Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. The leaders are the focus but in the context of the struggle of the Mexican-American people for self-determination. Not just scholars, but anyone who is interested in understanding more of the history of all of the people of the United States can usefully read this book."—Mary Frances Berry, Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and History, University of Pennsylvania; member, United States Commission on Civil Rights

• Introduction: The Mexican-American generation. Part 1 The middle class: in search of America - the League of United Latin American citizens (LULAC): education and the Mexican American-Eusebio Escobar and the School Improvement League of San Antonio; Mexican American Muckraker - Ignacio L. Lopez and "El Espectador": the politics of status - the election of Raymond L. Telles as Mayor of El Paso, 1957. Part 2 Labour and the left: the popular front - Josefina Fierro de Bright and Spanish Congress; border Proletariats - Mexican Americans and the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers; Mexican American radicals and the Cold War - the Association Nacional Mexico-Americana (ANMA). Part 3 Mexican American Intellectuals: Carlos E. Castaneda and the search for history; George E. Sanchez and the forgotten people; Arthur L. Campa and the cultural question. Conclusion: the Chicano in American history.