Manifest Destinies, Second Edition

Laura E.Gómez is Professor of Law, Sociology and Chicana/o Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the author of Misconceiving Mothers: Legislators, Prosecutors and the Politics of Prenatal Drug Exposure and the editor of Mapping "Race": Critical Approaches to Health Disparities Research (with Nancy López).

In a wonderfully rendered account of New Mexicos early history, Laura Gómez offers an original interpretation of colonialism and a distinctive portrayal of how racism works. The particulars of 19th century New Mexico illuminate everything from Donald Trumps White Nationalism to Barack Obamas record-shattering deportation numbers. Gómez manages, at once, to explore subtle variations and contradictions within racial categories without obscuring the murderous hate at the heart of the racism that still centrally defines life in the United States. - Gerald P. López,author of Rebellious Lawyering: One Chicano's Vision of Progressive Law Practice Laura Gómezs Manifest Destinies: The Making of the Mexican American Race is an important study that has changed our notions of Latinos in the United States, firmly placing them within its racial tapestry. Given the continued growth of this group and its participation in the political life of the nation (e.g. the Castro Brothers, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz), this second edition allows us to ponder the prospects of Mexican Americans and other Latinos and thus is both timely and necessary. - Ernesto Chávez,author of The US War with Mexico: A Brief History with Documents Manifest Destinies is as compelling now as it was in its first edition a decade ago and if anything even more timely. Expertly combining critical race theory, sociology, politics, ethnic studies, and military history, Gómezdramatizes both the peculiarities of the New Mexican case and its deep importance to understanding the nations racial history. - David Roediger ,author of How Race Survived U.S. History Adding significant evidence since the first edition, Gomez makes a convincing argument about the influence of annexation on the invention of the Mexican race. She demonstrates how the social and legal construction of the Mexican race are inextricably tied to westward expansion and the ideology of manifest destiny. - Sociological Inquiry