The Last Land: The Chicano Image of the Southwest by John R. Chávez (review)

Reviews The Last Land: The Chicano Image of the Southwest. By John R. Chávez. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press 1984. 207 pages, $19.95.) The traditional Anglo-American view of the Southwest holds that the region was underpopulated and underdeveloped during the long period that it was under Spanish-Mexican control. It was, in effect, a “virgin land” that did not acquire cultural and economic importance until Anglos arrived in significant numbers. Because they were so clearly inconsequential, SpanishMexican influences could easily be either suppressed or obliterated. Thus, it is not surprising that Mexican Americans have been considered “invisible” in their own homeland. John R. Chavez’s recent book seeks to demonstrate that Mexican Ameri­ cans (Chícanos is his chosen term) have their own views and images of the Southwest, greatly different in key respects from those held by Anglo Ameri­ cans, that have grown out of their long-standing presence in the area. Chávez argues that Chicano images of the Southwest have gone through four distinct stages. The first stage, the result of massive Anglo penetration in the nineteenth century, was marked by a vast sense of cultural, economic and political defeat. About 1920, this image gave way to a romantic celebration of a “Spanish” rather than a Mexican past—a contrived and rather pathetic response to the fact of Anglo aversion to Mexican culture. Around World War II, Chícanos adopted an assimilationist perspective, viewing the Southwest not as a region with a distinct heritage but as a land fully integrated into American history and culture. During the activist period of the 1960s, a fourth image emerged which sought to recover—and reconstruct—the Mexican past and to use the notion of Anglo cultural imperialism as a device to unite Chicanos culturally and politically. Chávez’sargument iswell-documented and generally persuasive, although not as well developed as it might be. In covering a historical period from the sixteenth century to the present, Chávez inevitably treats some key issues and figures superficially. The book is also marred by lengthy digressions on such subjects as the Mexican Revolution. But in prodding the reader toward an understanding of the Mexican American’s role in shaping the history and character of the Southwest, the book’sachievement is a substantial one. RAYMUND A. PAREDES University of California, Los Angeles ...