Reviews
Hammond, John L.
Reference Library of Hispanic America Edited by Nicolas Kanellos, Gale Research, Detroit, MI, 1993, three volumes, 740 pp., $119 (cloth). This three-volume compendium of essays on the Hispanic...
...Hellman offers few grounds for hope that NAFTA will fulfill its promise of prosperity...
...The three volumes are unfortunately marred by an incomplete editing job...
...For more information write or call: PLQE PO Box 205337 Suiiset Park, NY 11220-0006...
...Hellman, a political scientist and former NACLA staff member, describes the impact on 15 Mexicans of the austerity measures adopted since Mexico defaulted on its foreign debt in 1982...
...This three-volume compendium of essays on the Hispanic presence in the United States is meant to serve as an encyclopedia of U.S...
...In true encyclopedia fashion, most of the historical material is compressed and over-simplified...
...The poor, who never believed the promises, will go on finding ways to cope...
...We see how some people find clever ways to work the system for a few extra pesos, while others heroically struggle as union or neighborhood activists to change the system...
...Phone (718) 965-8522 There are, however, a number of penetrating and insightful essays, especially a perceptive piece by Robert Alvarez on the centrality-and diversity-of the Hispanic family, and another by Manuel Pefia on the wide variety of Latino musical styles...
...Families are welcome...
...Mexican Lives by Judith Adler Hellman, The New Press, 1994, 244 pp., $22.95 (cloth...
...As several interviewees assert, NAFTA "is for rich people...
...for Latinos who want to know more about their own history, non-Latinos with an interest in Hispanic culture, and students embarking on a variety of research projects...
...From manufacturers to market vendors, they are all struggling...
...This ethnic selfpromotion aside, the project makes a valuable contribution to an understanding of the growing Latino presence in the United States...
...La Hermandad Educativa includes Proyecto Linguistico Quezalteco and Educaci6n Para Todos in Quezaltenango and Proyecto Linguistico de Espafiol/Mam in Todos Santos...
...The Library is meant to serve not only as a source of information, but as a vehicle for Latino pride...
...The treaty formalizes changes which were already under way and were devastating for these Mexican Lives...
...There are, therefore, lists of Hispanics in U.S...
...We learn exactly what it is like to take the bus to Laredo every week for a load of used clothing to sell in Mexico City, or to appeal to the local ward heeler for a better stall in the market...
...arts, sports, business, politics, etc...
...There are a fair number of grammatical errors and typos which should have been caught by a competent proofreader, and a good deal of incomplete information which a day or two of editorial research could have filled in...
...We meet no subsistence peasants, except in the family backgrounds of some of the urban migrants...
...The book does, however, provide the background to place those events in context...
...The term "America" refers to the United States...
...The term "Hispanic" in this project refers to all Spanish-speaking cultures...
...Readers with relatively little prior knowledge will come away with a vivid portrait of contemporary Mexico, while readers familiar with Mexico's politics and economy will appreciate the personal stories which give substance to the structure...
...Despite a chapter on agricultural policy since the Lizaro Cirdenas land reform, and-interviews with a peasant who has successfully switched over to nontraditional crops and a large landowner who circumvents the legal limits on landholding (now repealed), the book shortchanges the countryside...
...Study Spanish in Guatemala A not-for-profit sisterhood of three collectively-run schools offers one-on-one instruction, family living, field trips and cultural activities...
...Hellman nowhere claims that her interviewees are representative of the whole population, but since she makes clear that poor peasants, party hacks, and bureaucrats are key actors, they deserve closer attention...
...Judith Adler Hellman's Mexican Lives is a lively, informative, and often moving portrait of today's Mexico...
...The research for this book was completed before the vertiginous year which included the approval of NAFTA, the Chiapas uprising, the murder of the PRI's first presidential candidate, and national elections...
...A maddening number of question marks appear, for instance, where easily verifiable birth and death dates were not ascertained by the editors...
...These vignettes bring to life abstractions such as austerity and neoliberalism...
...Nor do we meet any people who have joined the system and take bribes or dispense favors (though many of them hover in the background...
...The serious researcher will find little that is new here, but the three-volume set-a wise investment for general, high school and undergraduate libraries-is a good resource...
...Latino life and history...
Vol. 28 • November 1994 • No. 3
