To the Line of Fire! Mexican Texans and World War I

To the Line of Fire! Mexican Texans and World War I. By José A. Ramirez. C. A. Brannen Series, No. 1 1 . (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2009. Pp. [xxii], 191. $29.95, ISBN 978-1-60344-136-0.)

This book is a timely and well-thought-out study of Mexican American military participation in World War I through the eyes of Téjanos. Mexicans have served in most American wars, and the events of World War I were a necessary precedent to the service of an estimated 750,000 Mexican Americans during World War II. Mexican Americans had different reasons for voluntarily enlisting and accepting, or evading, the draft, and it was difficult for many to reconcile military service with the humiliation and low wages they had experienced in Texas. José A. Ramirez estimates that, despite such treatment, about 5,000...