Chicano While Mormon

Ignacio M. García is the Lemuel Hardison Redd, Jr. Professor of Western and Latino History at Brigham Young University, and a former bishop in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

• DedicationTable of ContentsForewordAcknowledgmentsPrologueComing to AmericaGrowing Up Brown in TexasEl Grito: Becoming MexicanMormonismo: A Home for My Spiritual YearningsSidney Lanier High School: La GarraLa Vida (not too) Loca of High SchoolEl ArmyGoing to El Norte: Entering the HomefrontGoing to Viet Nam: the Brown WarriorRomance, Buddies, and DisillusionmentProviding Mercy and Finding Death AgainFlying Back to the BarrioAnother Part of Texas: Another Part of the SpiritTwo Steps Back into a Chicano WorldThe College Life: Beyond the Activist TrenchesUnited We Win: Politics in the Time of ChicanosEl Final: Politics of Self-DestructionFinal Thoughts on This Phase of My LifeAbout the Author

Garcia demonstrates, through a personal and highly revealing work, how religious affiliation and belief can sustain an individual in trying social (including political) and personal circumstances. . . . .All of these situations Garcia details beautifully and extensively in his work and documents how his Mormon faith served as a bulwark against all manner of depravations and temptations. . . .In summary, I highly recommend this excellent and revealing book to individuals who are interested in Mormon biography and autobiography as well as the broad and expanding topic of Latino/Chicano biography/history. Readers will find much validation of their faith (Mormon or others) within the pages of Chicano While Mormon. . . .As Dr. Garcia notes, his worldview came into focus when ‘I remembered that life was about developing character, being tested by fire, and forgiving,’ and that is the true message presented in his life and careers, as well as in this inspiring autobiography.