Reviews

Reference Library of Hispanic
America
Edited by Nicolas Kanellos, Gale
Research, Detroit, MI, 1993, three
volumes, 740 pp., $119 (cloth).
This three-volume compendium of
essays on the Hispanic presence in
the United States is meant to serve
as an encyclopedia of U.S. Latino
life and history. (The term
“Hispanic” in this project refers to
all Spanish-speaking cultures. The
term “America” refers to the United
States.) The serious researcher will
find little that is new here, but the
three-volume set-a wise invest-
ment for general, high school and
undergraduate libraries-is a good
resource. for Latinos who want to
know more about their own history,
non-Latinos with an interest in
Hispanic culture, and students
embarking on a variety of research
projects. In true encyclopedia fash-
ion, most of the historical material
is compressed and over-simplified.
Study
Spanish in
Guatemala
A not-for-profit sisterhood of
three collectively-run schools
offers one-on-one instruction,
family living, field trips and
cultural activities.
Families are welcome.
La Hermandad Educativa
includes Proyecto Linguistico
Quezalteco and Educaci6n
Para Todos in Quezaltenango
and Proyecto Linguistico de
Espafiol/Mam in Todos Santos.
For more information write or call:
PLQE
PO Box 205337
Suiiset Park, NY 11220-0006.
Phone (718) 965-8522
There are, however, a number of
penetrating and insightful essays,
especially a perceptive piece by
Robert Alvarez on the centrality–
and diversity-of the Hispanic fam-
ily, and another by Manuel Pefia on
the wide variety of Latino musical
styles.
The three volumes are unfortu-
nately marred by an incomplete
editing job. There are a fair number
of grammatical errors and typos
which should have been caught by a
competent proofreader, and a good
deal of incomplete information
which a day or two of editorial
research could have filled in. (A
maddening number of question
marks appear, for instance, where
easily verifiable birth and death
dates were not ascertained by the
editors.) The Library is meant to
serve not only as a source of infor-
mation, but as a vehicle for Latino
pride. There are, therefore, lists of
Hispanics in U.S. arts, sports, busi-
ness, politics, etc. This ethnic self-
promotion aside, the project makes
a valuable contribution to an under-
standing of the growing Latino
presence in the United States.
Mexican Lives
by Judith Adler Hellman, The New
Press, 1994, 244 pp., $22.95 (cloth).
Judith Adler Hellman’s Mexican
Lives is a lively, informative, and
often moving portrait of today’s
Mexico. Hellman, a political scien-
tist and former NACLA staff mem-
ber, describes the impact on 15
Mexicans of the austerity measures
adopted since Mexico defaulted on
its foreign debt in 1982. From man-
ufacturers to market vendors, they
are all struggling.
These vignettes bring to life
abstractions such as austerity and
neoliberalism. We learn exactly
what it is like to take the bus to
Laredo every week for a load of
used clothing to sell in Mexico
City, or to appeal to the local ward
heeler for a better stall in the mar-
ket. We see how some people find
clever ways to work the system for
a few extra pesos, while others
heroically struggle as union or
neighborhood activists to change
the system.
Despite a chapter on agricultural
policy since the Lizaro Cirdenas
land reform, and-interviews with a
peasant who has successfully
switched over to nontraditional
crops and a large landowner who
circumvents the legal limits on
landholding (now repealed), the
book shortchanges the countryside.
We meet no subsistence peasants,
except in the family backgrounds
of some of the urban migrants.
Nor do we meet any people who
have joined the system and take
bribes or dispense favors (though
many of them hover in the back-
ground). Hellman nowhere claims
that her interviewees are represen-
tative of the whole population, but
since she makes clear that poor
peasants, party hacks, and bureau-
crats are key actors, they deserve
closer attention.
The research for this book was
completed before the vertiginous
year which included the approval
of NAFTA, the Chiapas uprising,
the murder of the PRI’s first presi-
dential candidate, and national
elections. The book does, however,
provide the background to place
those events in context. Readers
with relatively little prior knowl-
edge will come away with a vivid
portrait of contemporary Mexico,
while readers familiar with
Mexico’s politics and economy will
appreciate the personal stories
which give substance to the struc-
ture.
Hellman offers few grounds for
hope that NAFTA will fulfill its
promise of prosperity. The treaty
formalizes changes which were
already under way and were devas-
tating for these Mexican Lives. As
several interviewees assert,
NAFTA “is for rich people.” The
poor, who never believed the
promises, will go on finding ways
to cope.