Raza Si, Guerra No: Chicano Protest and Patriotism during the Viet Nam War Era [Paperback]

This incisive and elegantly written examination of Chicano antiwar mobilization demonstrates how the pivotal experience of activism during the Viet Nam War era played itself out among Mexican Americans.?Raza S?! ?Guerra No!presents an engaging portrait of Chicano protest and patriotism. On a deeper level, the book considers larger themes of American nationalism and citizenship and the role of minorities in the military service, themes that remain pertinent today. Lorena Oropeza's exploration of the evolution, political trajectory, and eventual implosion of the Chicano campaign against the war in Viet Nam encompasses a fascinating meditation on Mexican Americans' political and cultural orientations, loyalties, and sense of status and place in American society.

Lorena Oropezais Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Davis.

A fascinating and beautifully argued interpretation of how the American war in Southeast Asia affected Chicano communities. The author provides the most complete and well-documented study to date of this important chapter in U.S. history and its impact on an ethnic group with long-standing traditions of military service, assimilation, and resistance to injustice. Oropeza's book is what students of the Chicano Movement, especially the Mexican American role in antiwar activities during the Vietnam War period, have been waiting for. George Mariscal, author ofAztl?n and Viet Nam: Chicano and Chicana Experiences of the War

?Raza S?! ?Guerra No!is a superb first book. Maintaining a balance between national context and the activism in the every day, Lorena Oropeza seeks to understand and contextualize antiwar activism among a generation of Mexican American youth. Bolstered with an array of archival sources and oral interviews, she carefully delineates the nature of political organizing among Mexican Americans across the Southwest. To her credit, Oropeza avoids a narls!