Reviews for Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in The 1930s

The average rating for Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in The 1930s based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-05-03 00:00:00 Shane King What an eye-opening book! The extent of my knowledge of Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s was drawn from the scene in Mi Familia where the Jennifer Lopez character gets rounded up and deported to Mexico. I had no idea how rampant this so called "movement" was, nor any knowledge of the insidious methods employed by members at every level of government to bully people from their rightful homes. The book provided fresh information about the scapegoating by various factions of both native-born Mexicans and American citizens of Mexican descent. As a woman who is half Mexican American and whose family has been based in Los Angeles County for several generations, this book had me pondering to what extent this hysteria affected my immigrant great-grandparents and their outlook on raising their very American children. I am now able to look at my family history from a fresh perspective. It is important to note that this book is also an excellent source of information regarding life in 1930s Los Angeles and America in general, as well. Whether you have Mexican ancestry, know someone that does, or are just interested in delving deeper into a little-known piece of 20th-century history, this book is a worthwhile read. And, given the current climate of anti-immigration sentiment going around, this book is a necessary reminder that, if we allow history to become forgotten, it will no doubt repeat itself.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-09-11 00:00:00 Greg Badiguian I didn't have time to get all the way through this book. It is a library book that was on hold. This is a very important piece of history that is little known. And it is important because the US seems to be repeating it. We haven't learned. The authors of this book interviewed a number of people who had been deported during this move in the 30's. But the authors did not use the information to tell cohesive personal stories that, for me, would have made a much more interesting book. Times get tough and some people in the US figure it is the fault of too many "illegal" Mexicans in the country. They come up with a mechanism to deport them; sometimes sweeping up US citizens in the process. Sending people south of the border to a country where they may or may not have support systems, to a place where many may not speak the language well and may be illiterate in it. And then when times are good again, the US unofficially welcomes them back.