Rodolfo F. Acuña is the founding chair of the Chicana/o Studies department at California State University at Northridge - the largest Chicana/o Studies Department in the United States. He has authored twenty-two books, including three children's books, and Voices of the U.S. Latino Experience; Corridors of Migration: Odyssey of Mexican Laborers, 1600-1933; and Occupied America: A History of Chicanos.

Anything But Mexican challenges neo-liberal interpretations of the history of Los Angeles which blame Mexicans and other immigrants of color for the decline of the city. Acuña's provocative work confronts these historical myths, signalling that Latinos will not be dismissed.