Frank P. Barajas is a professor of history at California State University Channel Islands. He is the author of Mexican Americans with Moxie: A Transgenerational History of El Movimiento Chicano in Ventura County, California, 1945–1975 (Nebraska, 2021).

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsIntroduction1. Early Curious Unions2. The (Re)Creation of Community3. Segregated Integration4. Bitter Repression, Sweet Resistance, and Cross-Cultural Unions5. The Emerging Mexican (American)6. Creating CÉsarConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

"Curious Unions is a pioneering work. It should be recognized for its detailed research, including its extensive use of community-based oral histories and its proposed new theories regarding how Mexican workers strengthened their own community and survived the economic transformations of the region."—Margo McBane, American Historical Review “An outstanding portrait of a cross-tribal international region prior to its incorporation into the United States. . . . Subsequent chapters are a wealthy mix of local and national documents alongside personal narratives from those who lived in the community.”-S. M. Green, Choice“Enriche[s] our understanding of how labor organizers, community members, strikes, and forms of resistance have helped improve the lives of Mexican and Mexican American workers and families.”-Luis H. Moreno, Journal of American Ethnic History

Frank P. Barajas is a professor of history at California State University Channel Islands. He is the author of Mexican Americans with Moxie: A Transgenerational History of El Movimiento Chicano in Ventura County, California, 1945–1975 (Nebraska, 2021).

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsIntroduction1. Early Curious Unions2. The (Re)Creation of Community3. Segregated Integration4. Bitter Repression, Sweet Resistance, and Cross-Cultural Unions5. The Emerging Mexican (American)6. Creating CÉsarConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

"Curious Unions is a pioneering work. It should be recognized for its detailed research, including its extensive use of community-based oral histories and its proposed new theories regarding how Mexican workers strengthened their own community and survived the economic transformations of the region."—Margo McBane, American Historical Review “An outstanding portrait of a cross-tribal international region prior to its incorporation into the United States. . . . Subsequent chapters are a wealthy mix of local and national documents alongside personal narratives from those who lived in the community.”-S. M. Green, Choice“Enriche[s] our understanding of how labor organizers, community members, strikes, and forms of resistance have helped improve the lives of Mexican and Mexican American workers and families.”-Luis H. Moreno, Journal of American Ethnic History

Frank P. Barajas is a professor of history at California State University Channel Islands. He is the author of Mexican Americans with Moxie: A Transgenerational History of El Movimiento Chicano in Ventura County, California, 1945–1975 (Nebraska, 2021).

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsIntroduction1. Early Curious Unions2. The (Re)Creation of Community3. Segregated Integration4. Bitter Repression, Sweet Resistance, and Cross-Cultural Unions5. The Emerging Mexican (American)6. Creating CÉsarConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

"Curious Unions is a pioneering work. It should be recognized for its detailed research, including its extensive use of community-based oral histories and its proposed new theories regarding how Mexican workers strengthened their own community and survived the economic transformations of the region."—Margo McBane, American Historical Review “An outstanding portrait of a cross-tribal international region prior to its incorporation into the United States. . . . Subsequent chapters are a wealthy mix of local and national documents alongside personal narratives from those who lived in the community.”-S. M. Green, Choice“Enriche[s] our understanding of how labor organizers, community members, strikes, and forms of resistance have helped improve the lives of Mexican and Mexican American workers and families.”-Luis H. Moreno, Journal of American Ethnic History