The Lynching of Mexicans in the Texas Borderlands - by Nicholas Villanueva Jr (Paperback)

About the Book

This book argues that ethnic and racial tension brought on by the fighting in the borderland made Anglo-Texans feel justified in their violent actions against Mexicans.

Book Synopsis

Winner of the 2018 NACCS Tejas Foco Non-Fiction Book Award

Winner of the 2017 Southwest Book Award from the Border Regional Library Association

More than just a civil war, the Mexican Revolution in 1910 triggered hostilities along the border between Mexico and the United States. In particular, the decade following the revolution saw a dramatic rise in the lynching of ethnic Mexicans in Texas. This book argues that ethnic and racial tension brought on by the fighting in the borderland made Anglo-Texans feel justified in their violent actions against Mexicans. They were able to use the legal system to their advantage, and their actions often went unpunished. Villanueva's work further differentiates the borderland lynching of ethnic Mexicans from the Southern lynching of African Americans by asserting that the former was about citizenship and sovereignty, as many victims' families had resources to investigate the crimes and thereby place the incidents on an international stage.

Review Quotes

"The Lynching of Mexicans in the Texas Borderlands is quite an accomplishment. . . . Villanueva's book serves as an important model for the field, with its focus on a few case studies . . . among a larger thematic framework of international affairs."

"A better understanding of the history of violence against Mexican immigrants and refugees as well as American citizens of Mexican descent could not be more timely."--H-Law

"Any future scholarship of borderland studies must include this book."--Jack Matthews, Panhandle-Plains Historical Review

"Reminds readers of the interesting and divergent pathways of vigilantism, retribution, sovereignty, and citizenship present along the border."

"This is an important and timely study of violence against Mexicans and people of Mexican descent, which will provide historians a valuable addition to the historiography of the borderlands."

"Written in clear and engaging prose, Villanueva's is a rigorous and important study that is sure to be influential in borderlands and Mexican American history."