Mexican American and Puerto Rican Experience combines theory with empirics; history, political science and sociology; case studies and firm generalizations. Recently revised to make the material more accessible, Latino Politics in the United States compares and contrasts the racialized experiences of Mexican-Americans and Puerto Ricans in the United States, making the kind of comparisons among Latino experiences that are so rare in academic books.Latino Politics in the United States: Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Gender in the Mexican American and Puerto Rican Experience:Addresses the ways in which Latin American migrants’ cultural and national differences are virtually erased upon settling in the United States.Is chock full of interesting historical events and empirical details built upon the theory presented. Presents a complex web: the social, economic and racial matrix that has turned urban cores into economic “badlands,” providing the explosive mixture that ignited in the 1992 Los Angeles Riot events. Examines how Latinos, organizing from the bottom up, brought about an end to what was in effect a quasi-apartheid system. Ends on a high and hopeful note, at the other end of the Chicano-Boricua geographical span in Vieques.  Latino Politics in the United States is about understanding oppression, but it is also, and for the most part, about resistance and victory. I think that’s why I enjoyed reading it as I think you will too.Raul A. Fernandez, School of Social Science, University of California, Irvine

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