As one of America’s most important missionaries, Junípero Serra is widely recognized as the founding father of California’s missions. It was for that work that he was canonized in 2015 by Pope Francis. Less well known, however, is the degree to which Junípero Serra embodied the social, religious and artistic currents that shaped Spain and Mexico across the 18th century. Further, Serra’s reception in American culture in the 19th and 20th centuries has often been obscured by the controversies surrounding his treatment of California’s Indians. This volume situates Serra in the larger Spanish and Mexican contexts within which he lived, learned, and came of age. Offering a rare glimpse into Serra’s life, these essays capture the full complexity of cultural trends and developments that paved the way for this powerful missionary to become not only California’s most polarizing historical figure but also North America’s first Spanish colonial saint.

Essential single-volume history of the Pacific region and the global interactions which define it.

A comprehensive history and insider’s account of the Garifuna in New York City from 1943 to the present day. In recent years, Latinos—primarily Central American migrants—crossing the southern border of the United States have dominated the national media, as the legitimacy of their detention and of U.S. immigration policy in general is debated by partisan politicians and pundits. Among these migrants seeking economic opportunities and fleeing violence from gangs and drug traffickers are many Central American Garifuna. This fascinating book is the long-overdue account—written by a Garifuna New Yorker—of the ways that Garifuna immigrants from Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras have organized themselves and become a vibrant presence in New York City, from the time of their first arrivals in the 1940s to the present. The author documents four generations of Garifuna people in New York City who were active in the organizations at the heart of their community. Garifuna organizations have expanded and diversified over time from being primarily concerned with simply providing a space to gather for social events and some self-help groups for seamen (who were the first migrants) to a wide variety of organizations today that range from those focused on culture—music, dance, religion, language, sports, media—to those concentrating on economic development, political engagement and representation, immigration issues, health concerns, and transnational projects related to the situation of Garifuna in their Central American communities. As the Garifuna population grew, their organized entities simultaneously increased. The legacy of the Garifuna ethnic group is one of heroic resilience: They challenged colonial European suppression and grew from an estimated population of 2,000 to a growing 600,000 in the present day. After wars defending their original settlement on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent, the remaining Garifuna were rounded up and expelled from the territory to Central America, and from there they eventually immigrated to the United States. In New York City, an estimated 200,000 Garifuna live in the five boroughs, with their largest population in the Bronx. Having overcome numerous challenges, this Black/ Indigenous ethnic group is now known for its significant involvement in both Central American as well as U.S. societies. The Garifuna are integrated into the fabric of New York City as a distinctive Afro-Latinx/African Diaspora ethnic group known for its cultural and political impact. Garifuna organizations are at once concerned with creating alliances with a diversity of many other groups and also focused on dealing with issues specific to the unique culture, history, and situation of the Garifuna. They provide an interesting case study on whether and how Black ethnic groups assimilate with African Americans. And awareness of this group, its culture, and its contribution to American society is essential to understanding a growing segment of the expanding diverse Latino presence in the United States.

This book offers a historically sweeping yet detailed view of world-systemic migration as a racialized process. Since the early expansion of the world-system, the movement of people has been its central process. Not only have managers of capital moved to direct profitable expansion; they have also forced, cajoled or encouraged workers to move in order to extract, grow, refi ne, manufacture and transport materials and commodities. The book offers historical cases that show that migration introduces and deepens racial dominance in all zones of the world-system. This often forces indigenous and imported slaves or bonded labor to extract, process and move raw materials. Yet it also often creates a contradiction between capital’s need to direct labor to where it enables profitability, and the desires of large sections of dominant populations to keep subordinate people of color marginalized and separate. Case studies reveal how core states are concurrently users and blockers of migrant labor. Key examples are Mexican migrants in the United States, both historically and in contemporary society. The United States even promotes of an image of a society that welcomes the immigrant—while policy realities often quite different. Nonetheless, the volume ends with a vision of a future whereby communities from below, both activists and people simply following their communal interests, can come together to create a society that overcomes racism. Its final chapter is a hopeful call by Immanuel Wallerstein for people to make small changes that, together, can bring real about real, revolutionary change.

From the Founding Fathers through the present, Christianity has exercised powerful influence in the United States—from its role in shaping politics and social institutions to its hand in inspiring art and culture. The Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States outlines the myriad roles Christianity has played and continues to play. This masterful five-volume reference work includes biographies of major figures in the Christian church in the United States, influential religious documents and Supreme Court decisions, and information on theology and theologians, denominations, faith-based organizations, immigration, art—from decorative arts and film to music and literature—evangelism and crusades, the significant role of women, racial issues, civil religion, and more. The first volume opens with introductory essays that provide snapshots of Christianity in the U.S. from pre-colonial times to the present, as well as a statistical profile and a timeline of key dates and events. Entries are organized from A to Z. The final volume closes with essays exploring impressions of Christianity in the United States from other faiths and other parts of the world, as well as a select yet comprehensive bibliography. Appendices help readers locate entries by thematic section and author, and a comprehensive index further aids navigation.

This definitive and comprehensive book, with contributions from world-renowned foreign trade zone expert, the late Walter Diamond, provides an up-to-date guide to the free trade zones and subzones in the United States and around the world. Economic reasons for using free trade zones are explored, encompassing the benefits gained and profits earned, such as exemptions, reductions from customs duties, proximity to foreign export markets, and low-cost processing and packaging of goods designed to lower duties or freight charges. Practical, hard-to-locate data and contact details are provided on every free trade zone in the US, as well as information on the history, growth and types of users in each zone, storage space, transportation access, the cost of user facilities, utilities, communications, labor availability, warehousing features, and enterprise zones within the free trade zone. Tax Free Trade Zones of the World and in the United States will be an invaluable reference tool for a wide-ranging professional audience including: international, multinational and business law firms, tax advisory and finance firms, international sales and marketing executives, import, export and shipping companies, customs brokers and insurance agencies. In addition, it will prove a useful, practical resource for law students focusing on international business and international trade.

The World of the American West is an innovative collection of original essays that brings the world of the American West to life, and conveys the distinctiveness of this diverse, constantly changing region. Twenty scholars incorporate the freshest research in the field to take the history of the American West out of its timeworn "Cowboys and Indians" stereotype right up into the major issues being discussed today, from water rights to the presence of the defense industry. Other topics covered in this heavily illustrated, highly accessible volume include the effects of leisure and tourism, western women, politics and politicians, Native Americans in the twentieth century, and of course, oil. With insight both informative and unexpected, The World of the American West offers perspectives on the latest developments affecting the modern American West, providing essential reading for all scholars and students of the field so that they may better understand the vibrant history of this globally significant, ever-evolving region of North America.

When The World Rushed In was first published in 1981, the Washington Post predicted, “It seems unlikely that anyone will write a more comprehensive book about the Gold Rush.” Twenty years later, no one has emerged to contradict that judgment, and the book has gained recognition as a classic. As the San Francisco Examiner noted, “It is not often that a work of history can be said to supplant every book on the same subject that has gone before it.” Through the diary and letters of William Swain--augmented by interpolations from more than five hundred other gold seekers and by letters sent to Swain from his wife and brother back home--the complete cycle of the gold rush is recreated: the overland migration of over thirty thousand men, the struggle to “strike it rich” in the mining camps of the Sierra Nevadas, and the return home through the jungles of the Isthmus of Panama. In a new preface, the author reappraises our continuing fascination with the “gold rush experience” as a defining epoch in western--indeed, American--history.