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Acknowledgments This project has gone through its share of fits and starts and exists because of the timely intervention of grants, keen observations, and camaraderie . The Ford Foundation provided the initial investment in my academic career. My project first took shape during a year as a Charles Gaius Bolin Fellow at Williams College. Joel Wolfe and K. Scott Wong saw its early promise. Several mentors guided its transformation at Yale, especially John Mack Faragher, Howard Lamar, Gilbert Joseph, David Montgomery, and Mario Garcia. The Mellon Foundation supported the first of many drafts. Archivists and librarians opened the doors to documents. I benefited from the staffs of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University , the Benson Latin American Collection and Center for American History at the University of Texas, the Texas State Library and Archives, Archivo General del Estado de Coahuila in Saltillo, Texas, the Local History Collection at the Houston Public Library, and Special Collections at the University of Houston. The concepts in the book matured while I was at the University of Utah, where the history department and the Ethnic Studies Program supplied a nurturing place to grow. L. Ray Gunn, Eric Hinderaker, Rebecca Horn,Wesley Sasaki-Uemura, Ron Coleman, Paul Johnson, and Larry Gerlach protected my time and encouraged my development. Armando Salinas and Rudy Guevarra each spent a summer researching the project. Megan Armstrong , David Igler, Janet Theiss, Beth Clement, Bruce Dain, and Katheryn Stockton created a social community to rival the beauty of the Wasatch Mountains. I’m most grateful for my ally Susie Porter. The final push took place during my year as the Summerfield Roberts Fellow in Texas History at the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University. The year proved invaluable for the intense focus on the book. David J. Weber, Sherry Smith, and Andrea Boardman made the year possible. Steve Stern, Beth Haas, and Paul Lack acknowledgments supplied new perspectives to the project, along with Greg Cantrell, Roberto CalderÓn, Martin Padgett, and Marsha Weisiger. I came in contact with the Clements Center again through the Continental Crossroads project organized by Elliott Young and Sam Truett. Elliott, Sam, and the other collaborators offered new ways to recast my project.While in Dallas, I bonded with Alexis McCrossen and Adam Herring, who time and again knew what was needed to get past obstacles. The history department at the University of Houston created a space that seriously engages the politics of Chicano/a history. All my colleagues have promoted this project, especially Guadalupe San Miguel, John Mason Hart, Joe Glatthaar, and Xioping Cong. A special group of graduate students and faculty has come together at Houston under la colectiva. Tatcho Mindiola and the Center for Mexican American Studies generously supported a year of research through the Visiting Scholar Program and continue to provide a strong community on campus. Publication was supported by a University of Houston Small Program Grant. Best of all, I came to Houston with Luis Alvarez and Marilyn Espitia—and Monica Perales arrived soon after—and knew right away I could finish my project here. I am also the beneficiary of my connection with a larger community of Chicano/a and Tejano scholars. At various stages in my career, I gained from the insights of Frank de la Teja, George Sanchez, Vicki Ruiz, David Montejano, Ramón Gutiérrez, Ernesto Chavez, Steve Pitti, Omar Valerio, Miroslava Chavez, and John McKiernan-Gonzalez. I fondly remember the sense of a shared project I felt while presenting at a poorly attended panel in Atlanta with Omar, Miroslava, and George. I kept running into Mitch Duneier at the right time to get some needed perspective. In Houston, Pat Kelley shared his interests and his home. Completion of this project came about through thoughtful shepherding by Chuck Grench, Katy O’Brien, and the staff at the University of North Carolina Press. I thank Jim Crisp and Ernesto Chavez for their close reading. I suppose I gathered many of my ideas about family networks and regional connections from my families. My extended family became a sounding board and support network. I owe my foundations to my mother, Margarita Ramos Petz, and my father, Raúl Ramos Lopez, with his wife Hilda. My sisters, María, Ana, and Veronica, created a web of support through rough times. Leticia Campos, Elva and RoqueYañez, and Florence and Raymond Chiao expanded my core family. My life is made rich by my chosen siblings...

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