Book Review - Race, Place, and Reform in Mexican Los Angeles: A Transnational Perspective, 1890-1940, by Stephanie Lewthwaite

The growth of the Mexican community in Los Angeles before World War II attracted the attention of many settlement house workers, educators, and public officials. Several historians have analyzed the words and actions of these reformers. Most notable among these studies are George J. Sánchez, Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945 (1993), William Deverell, Whitewashed Adobe: The Rise of Los Angeles and the Remaking of Its Mexican Past (2004), and Natalia Molina, Fit to Be Citizens? Public Health and Race in Los Angeles, 1879-1939 (2006). In her fascinating book, Stephanie Lewthwaite asks readers to reconsider some of what they have learned from these scholars