History/W

Walking Stars Stories of Magic and Power

Author: Victor Villaseñor

Price: $10.95 (cloth)

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A dog goes crazy--loco--as his master lies dying in a hospital miles away....A young girl becomes a woman as she assists a midwife at an extraordinary birth....A mother's fearless love for her son transforms a surly crowd waiting to see him hang.

Wild steps of Heaven

Author: Victor Villaseñor

Price: $19.95 (cloth)

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In Wild Steps of Heaven, Victor Villaseñor breathes life into his father's family, and in particular, the Villaseñor women. Mothers and daughters, sisters and lovers--their faith transcends the madness that surrounds them, and their love is all-powerful, life-giving, and touched by the miraculous. Margarita is the indomitable Indian matriarch who guards her family and conquers her enemies with the cutting edge of unconditional love--and a touch of magic. As a young woman, she was swept away by Juan Jesus Villaseñor, who carried the blood of Spanish royalty in his veins--and who, unarmed, once wrestled with the great serpent that held his village hostage .... and won.

With His Pistol in His Hand A Border Ballad & Its Hero

Author: Americo Paredes

Price: $12.95

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12th printing

Gregorio Cortez Lira, a ranch hand of Mexican parentage, was virtually unknown until one summer day in 1901 when he and a Texas sheriff, pistols in hand, blazed away at each other after a misunderstanding. The sheriff was killed and Gregorio fled immediately, realizing that in practice there was one law for Anglo-Texans, another for Texas-Mexicans. The chase, capture, and imprisonment of Cortez are high drama that cannot easily be forgotten. Even today, in the cantinas along both sides of the Rio Grande, Mexicans sing the praises of the great "sheriff-killer" in the ballad which they call "El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez."

Americo Paredes tells the story of Cortez, the man and the legend, in vivid, fascinating detail in "With His Pistol in His Hand," which also presents a unique study of a ballad in the making. Deftly woven into the story are interpretations of the Border country, its history, its people, and their folkways.

The late Dr. Paredes was professor emeritus of English and anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin.

Women's Tales from the New Mexico WPA

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The Words of César Chávez

Editor: Richard J. Jensen and John C. Hammerback

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César Chávez's relentless campaign for social justice for farm workers and laborers in the United States marked a milestone in U.S. history. Through his powerful rhetoric and impassioned calls to action, Chávez transformed as well as persuaded and inspired his audiences.

The World of the Mexican Worker in Texas

Author: Emilio Zamora

Price: $42.75

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The twentieth century brought industrialization to Texas cities. For Mexican workers in the state, this meant worsening economic conditions, widespread discrimination, and an indifferent or at times hostile Anglo labor movement. Faced with such challenges, Mexican often looked to each other or toward Mexico for support and inspiration in building a largely autonomous, occasionally trans-border labor movement. In this first book-length examination of the earliest organized efforts by Mexican-origin workers in Texas, Emilio Zamora challenges the usual, stereotypical depiction of Mexican workers as passive and hard to organize.

Instead, working within the framework of the "new labor history," he looks beyond the conventional focus on trade unionism and collective bargaining to encompass the broader social experiences and culture of Mexicans as a national minority and a repressed segment of the working class.