Refusing the Favor unveils a method for understanding how Mexico's northern land, New Mexico, came under the authority of the United States and what role women played in the political game of takeover. By not losing sight of the Spanish-Mexican women of Santa Fe, the most populated town west of the Mississippi until the California Gold Rush, it places gender squarely in the middle of the dialogue about conquest.

Refusing the Favour examines the experience of Spanish-Mexican women before and after conquest of the area that became New Mexico. This book will be of use to those with an interest in Western history, gender studies, Chicano/a studies, and the history of borderlands and colonization.