Carmen Ganser Illinois State University

F. Arturo Rosales' Chicano! The History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement is a necessary text for those whose knowledge about Chicanos in the United States is patchy at best. Rather than starting with the more militant movements that popped up during the black civil rights movement, Rosales begins with the long history of Chicanos, paying close attention to their loss of land after the Mexican-American War and their de-politicization in local and state (territorial) governments.

Chicanos in particular and Latino Americans in general have historically received less attention in middle and high school history classes, a fact I find curious since they represent the second largest minority population in the U.S. However, because of these populations' growing numbers, historians and history teachers can no longer ignore Latino cultural heritage and contributions to the history of the United States. Reading through this book I was a little disappointed at how brief much of the historical content was. It is, after all, a sort of survey rather than an in depth discussion of a particular period of Chicano history. Two hundred years of history is a lot to cover in a 300-page book. However, as I read it became apparent how little of Latino history I know. Because it is not a subject that receives a lot of coverage in high school, and university students get nothing unless they take a course specifically subject-related, this lack of knowledge is problematic for many history teachers who never receive exposure as students.

History teachers and the general Anglo public are not the only groups who lack knowledge, but many Latino students grow up without understanding their cultural heritage. African-American students receive a smattering of black history in February each year, and when they get to high school they roll their eyes at the mention of Martin Luther King, Jr. Do all Chicano students (and all non-Chicano students, for that matter) know who César Chávez and Reies López Tijerina are or what they contributed to not only the Chicano movement but to American history? The lack of Latino education in United States education curriculums is remiss. Perhaps if more students were pushed to learn Spanish and study Spanish-speaking cultures there wouldn't be such large disparities in equity for those newly arriving immigrants through our southern border.

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