Description: "This book demonstrates the richness of the interethnicmosaic characterizing the Valley of South Texas. . . . By giving voice tolocal residents, Professor Richardson has amassed a valuable stock of knowledgeconcerning life along the Texas-Mexican border that is sorely missingin the extant literature."--Rogelio Saenz, Professor and Head of Sociology, Texas A&M University "The Valley of South Texas, " a recent joke goes, "is agreat place to live. It's so close to the United States." Culturally, this borderlan region is both Mexican and Anglo-American, and its peoplespan the full spectrum, from a minority who wish to remain insulated withinstrictly Anglo or Mexican communities and traditions to a majority who dailynegotiate both worlds.This fascinating book offers the fullest portrait currently availableof the people of the South Texas borderlands. An outgrowth of the BorderlifeResearch Project conducted at the University of Texas-Pan American, it uses the voices of several hundred Valley residents, backed by the findingsof sociological surveys, to describe the lives of migrant farm workers, colonia residents, undocumented domestic servants, maquila workers, andMexican street children. Likewise, it explores race and ethnic relationsamong Mexican Americans, permanent Anglo residents, "Winter Texans, "Blacks, and Mexican immigrants. From this firsthand material, the book vividlyreveals how social class, race, and ethnicity have interacted to form aunique border culture.

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