Another contemporary classic of urban studies from Davis (Ecology
of Fear, not reviewed), herald of the good and badbut mostly
badtimes ahead.Davis argues that Latinos are poised to be the
largest, most important, and most overlooked minority in US cities.
Citing numerous studies, Davis shows that immigrant Latinos and
Hispanic-Americans are well on their way to surpassing
African-Americans as the largest minority in the US, creating
massive, $30-billion regional markets and revitalizing the cities
they now call home. In Los Angeles Latinos tend to create parks in
their neighborhoods (as opposed to the less centralized strip malls
favored by old-guard developers). In New York they settle in the
Bronx, following in the footsteps of the Irish and Italian
immigrants who came there a century before. Davis is at his best
when he describes the overlooked consequences of this migration. He
argues that many Latinos experience syncretic existences, meaning
they live simultaneously in the US and in their homelands. Here we
discover a kind of magical urbanism: Indian tribes discussing
important village business on conference callone set of elders in
Brooklyn, one in Mexico. But, despite these changes, Davis argues
that the future of the Latinos (and therefore of the US) is filled
with conflict. Like other minorities, Latinos have suffered as the
manufacturing base of large US cities has disappeared overseas.
Unlike other minorities, however, Latinos have not regained the
ground they lost in the past few decades. In 1959, US-born Mexicans
in Southern California earned 19 percent less than non-Hispanic
whites; in 1990, that gap had widened to 31 percent. Disinvestment
in big city school systems, and a lack of bilingual education have
reduced Latinos chances at breaking the cycle of dependence. Davis,
a good Marxist, ends his apocalyptic message on a hopeful note,
however: he points to new, Latino-led union efforts as the best
agents for change. A wake-up call for anyone who cares about the
future of American cities. (Kirkus Reviews)
Winner of the 2001 Carey McWilliams Award Is the capital of Latin
America a small island at the mouth of the Hudson River? Will
California soon hold the balance of power in Mexican national
politics? Will Latinos reinvigorate the US labor movement? These
are some of the provocative questions that Mike Davis explores in
this fascinating account of the Latinization of the US urban
landscape. As he forefully shows, this is a demographic and
cultural revolution with extraordinary implications. With Spanish
surnames increasing five times faster than the general population,
salsa is becoming the predominant ethnic rhythm (and flavor) of
contemporary city life. In Los Angeles, Houston, San Antonio, and
(shortly) Dallas, Latinos outnumber non-Hispanic whites; in New
York, San Diego and Phoenix they outnumber Blacks. According to the
Bureau of the Census, Latinos will supply fully two-thirds of the
nation's population growth between now and the middle of the 21st
century when nearly 100 millions Americans will boast Latin
American ancestry. Davis focuses on the great drama of how Latinos
are attempting to translate their urban demographic ascendancy into
effective social power. Pundits are now unanimous that
Spanish-surname voters are the sleeping giant of US politics. Yet
electoral mobilization alone is unlikely to redress the increasing
income and opportunity gaps between urban Latinos and suburban
non-Hispanic whites. Thus in Los Angeles and elsewhere, the
militant struggles of Latino workers and students are reinventing
the American left. Fully updated throughout, and with new chapters
on the urban Southwest and the explodiing counter-migration of
Anglos to Mexico, Magical Urbanism is essential reading for anyone
who wants to grasp the future of urban America This paperback
edition of Mike Davis's investigation into the Latinization of
America incorporates the extraordinary findings of the 2000 Census
as well as new chapters on the militarization of the border and
violence against immigrants.
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