World War II marked a turning point for Mexican Americans that fundamentally changed their expectations about how they should be treated by the greater U.S. society. The experiences of fighting alongside white Americans in the military, as well as of working in factory jobs for wages equal to those of Anglo workers, made Mexican Americans less willing to tolerate the second-class citizenship that had been their lot before the war. Having proven their loyalty and Americanness during World War II, Mexican Americans in the postwar years wanted to have the civil rights they knew they had earned.

In this book, Richard Griswold del Castillo investigates how the World War II experiences of Mexican Americans galvanized their struggle for civil rights and how the U.S. government responded to the needs and aspirations of Mexican Americans. Del Castillo demonstrates, for example, that the U.S. government discovered Mexican Americans during World War II and set about addressing some of their problems as a way of forestalling a sense of grievance and disaffection that might have made the Mexican American community unwilling to support the war effort. The author also shows that, as much or more than governmental programs, the personal wartime experiences of Mexican Americans formed their civil rights consciousness. The book concludes with a selection of key essays and historical documents from the World War II period that collectively gives a first-person understanding of the civil rights struggles of Mexican Americans.

Mexicans and Mexican-Americans were vigorously involved in World War II activities in the U.S., with men signing up to serve in the military, and women forming groups to raise money for war bonds, support the troops, and work in factories. The continued racism they experienced despite their patriotism galvanized the community to more far-reaching civil rights activities, writes Castillo and Richard Steele in this account. Their history is based on oral histories and autobiographical accounts and includes many b&w photos. Half of the volume contains primary documents regarding the racism Mexican- Americans routinely experienced and their struggles for equality. Written jointly by the late Richard Steele (history, San Diego State U.) and Castillo, who also edited the work and wrote the introduction, this is a major contribution to the study of Mexican American history. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)