Description: A history of European immigrants in Texas and how they redefined racial identity.
Review Quotes:
Texan Crucible successfully undertakes an ambitious aim: examining the interactions of the leading Texas ethnic groups--Irish, Germans, Czechs, and Mexicans--with the dominant white Anglo society and in context with one another. Barber covers over a century of these groups' political and social histories, but the book's other significant contribution is its study of identity, both self-identity and the perception of others, in greater detail and with greater sophistication than has been done before. The ensuing insights into histories of immigration and race in Texas are complemented by a lively writing style and a good eye for telling anecdotes. Equally suited for general readers and Texas history courses.
--Walter D. Kamphoefner, Texas A&M University, author of Germans in America: A Concise History