This is the story of the largest Mexican-American community in the United States, the city within a city known as "East Los Angeles." How did this barrio of over one million men and women—occupying an area greater than Manhattan or Washington D.C.—come to be? Although promoted early in this century as a workers' paradise, Los Angeles fared poorly in attracting European immigrants and American blue-collar workers. Wages were low, and these workers were understandably reluctant to come to a city which was also troubled by labor strife. Mexicans made up the difference, arriving in the city in massive numbers. Who these Mexicans were and the conditions that caused them to leave their own country are revealed in East Los Angeles. The author examines how they adjusted to life in one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States, how they fared in this country's labor market, and the problems of segregation and prejudice they confronted. Ricardo Romo is associate professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin.

Preventing teen pregnancy has become a national goal, but a one-size-fits-all strategy for achieving it may never be found. Because varying social and cultural factors lead to pregnancy among different ethnic/class groups, understanding these factors is essential in designing pregnancy prevention programs that work. This book explores the factors that lead to childbearing among Latina adolescents. Pamela Erickson draws on both quantitative data and case histories to trace the pathways to motherhood for Latina teens. After situating her study within current research on teen pregnancy, she looks specifically at teen mothers enrolled in programs at Women's Hospital in East L.A. She describes the teens' relationships to their babies' fathers and their own families and discusses how these relationships affect whether teen mothers want to become pregnant, their use of prenatal, postpartum, and family planning services, and their ability to prevent a repeat pregnancy. Erickson describes culturally appropriate intervention efforts and assesses the limitations of prevention programs in institutional settings such as schools and clinics.

While most historians, journalists, and filmmakers have focused on Los Angeles as a bastion of corporate greed, business boosterism, political corruption, cheap labor, exploited immigrants, and unregulated sprawl, The Next Los Angeles tells a different story: that of the reformers and radicals who have struggled for alternative visions of social and economic justice. In a new preface, the authors reflect on the gathering momentum of L.A.'s progressive movement, including the 2005 landslide victory of Antonio Villaraigosa as mayor.

Latino Educational Leadership acknowledges the unique preparation and support for both Latinx educational leaders and Latino communities needed throughout the education and policy pipeline. While leadership in communities exists for educational purposes, this effort focuses on the institutional aspect of Latino Educational Leadership across K-12 schools and university settings. The purpose of this book is to create a greater collaborative focus on Latino Educational Leadership by inviting scholarly contributions and insights from both established and up-and-coming scholars. Latino Educational Leadership also advocates for the preparation of all leaders as well as the preparation of Latinx educational leaders, to serve Latino communities. Our impetus on Latino Educational Leadership primarily stems from the changing demographics of our country. As of Fall 2017, Latinx student enrollment in K-12 schools reached an all-time high, with Latinxs comprising 26.8% of the nation’s public school enrollment. Postsecondary level Latinx student enrollment has also improved; rising from 25% in 2005 to 37% in 2015. Given this growth, particularly at the K-12 level, there has been an increasing urgency to prepare and support more Latinx educational leaders. Their rich cultural and linguistic connections to communities help them more readily understand and meet the needs of Latino students and families. Aside from enrollment growth, Latinxs have made record strides in postsecondary attainment; between 2003-04 and 2013-14, bachelor's degrees more than doubled from 94,644 to 202,412, master's degrees conferred rose from 29,806 to 55,965, and doctoral degrees rose from 5, 795 to 10,665. Despite such promising gains, concern has not waned over how to best address the challenges this diverse student population continues to face in accessing, persisting, and matriculating across the P-20 Pipeline. There is still work to be done, as only 11% of all bachelor’s degrees, 9% of all master’s degrees, and 7% of all doctoral degrees were awarded to Latinxs in 2013-14. In particular, there is increasing urgency to address how higher education institutions can better prepare, develop, and retain Latinx leaders and scholars, who will serve and meet the needs of Latinx college students to ensure their academic success. Thus, the purpose of this book is to advance the knowledge related to serving Latino communities and preparing Latinx leaders.

Luis D. León's compelling, innovative exploration of religion in the U.S.-Mexican borderlands issues a fundamental challenge to current scholarship in the field and recharts the landscape of Chicano faith. La Llorona's Children constructs genealogies of the major traditions spanning Mexico City, East Los Angeles, and the southwestern United States: Guadalupe devotion, curanderismo, espiritualismo, and evangelical/ Pentecostal traditions. León theorizes a religious poetics that functions as an effective and subversive survival tactic akin to crossing the U.S.-Mexican border. He claims that, when examined in terms of broad categorical religious forms and intentions, these traditions are remarkably alike and resonate religious ideas and practices developed in the ancient Mesoamerican world. León proposes what he calls a borderlands reading of La Virgen de Guadalupe as a transgressive, border-crossing goddess in her own right, a mestiza deity who displaces Jesus and God for believers on both sides of the border. His energetic discussion of curanderismo shows how this indigenous religious practice links cognition and sensation in a fresh and powerful technology of the body—one where sensual, erotic, and sexualized ways of knowing emphasize personal and communal healing. La Llorona’s Children ends with a fascinating study of the rich and complex world of Chicano/a Pentecostalism in Los Angeles, a tradition that León maintains allows Chicano men to reimagine their bodies into a unified social body through ritual performance. Throughout the narrative, the connections among sacred spaces, saints, healers, writers, ideas, and movements are woven with skill, inspiration, and insight. Luis D. León's compelling, innovative exploration of religion in the U.S.-Mexican borderlands issues a fundamental challenge to current scholarship in the field and recharts the landscape of Chicano faith. La Llorona's Children constructs genealogi