Smeltertown: Making and Remembering a Southwest Border Community
Company town. Blighted community. Beloved home. Nestled on the banks of the Rio Grande, at the heart of a railroad, mining, and smelting empire, Smeltertown-La Esmelda, as its residents called it-was home to generations of ethnic Mexicans who labored at the American Smelting and Refining Company in El Paso, Texas.\ Using newspapers, personal archives, photographs, employee records, parish newsletters, and interviews with former residents, including her own relatives, Monica Perales unearths...
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Nestled on the banks of the Rio Grande, at the heart of a railroad, mining, and smelting empire, Smeltertown was home to generations of ethnic Mexicans who labored at the American Smelting and Refining Company in El Paso, Texas. Using newspapers, personal archives, photographs, employee records, parish newsletters, and interviews with former residents, including her own relatives, Monica Perales unearths the history of this forgotten community. Smeltertown provides insight into how people and places invent and reinvent themselves and sheds light on a vibrant community grappling with its own sense of self and its place in history and collective memory.Library JournalSmeltertown, or La Esmelda, was a company town that developed around the American Smelting and Refining Company plant in El Paso, TX. Perales (history, Univ. of Houston) offers not simply a narrative history of this area, but also a look at how the community was created by Anglos and Hispanics, citizens and immigrants, rich and poor. The book explores the sometimes contradictory dichotomy between the history and the development of the community, in particular the paternal and often negative treatment of the Mexican labor pool, and how the residents, Esmeltianos, created a sense of place and fashioned their identities as Mexicans and Americans. Personal stories and remembrances throughout the text help paint a picture that appears rosier, at least in the Esmeltianos' memory, than the history portrays. VERDICT Though the text is a bit repetitious, this well-researched and well-documented work would be a good addition for academic libraries, especially collections related to borderlands studies or labor issues.—Mike Miller, Austin P.L., TX
Acknowledgments xiIntroduction 1Part I Making Places1 Making a Border City 212 Creating Smeltertown 57Part II Making Identities3 We're Just Smelter People 974 We Were One Hundred Percent Mexican 1495 She Was Very American 185Part III Remembering Smeltertown6 The Demise of Smeltertown 225Epilogue Finding Smeltertown 261Notes 279Index 319
\ From the Publisher"Smeltertown is an engaging exploration of the intersections of globalization and transnationalism."\ -The Journal of American History\ "An exhaustively researched and engaging history of the generations of ethnic Mexicans who lived and died in the community they called "La Esmelda".... A living text of human community."\ -Oral History Review\ "Smeltertown is an important contribution to the growing body of research in Mexican American, gender, and social history."\ -Journal of Southern History\ "Perales chronicle[s] the journey of Mexican-Americans and their role in the industrialization and globalization of a small community near El Paso. Her book . . . tells their story where families thrived and business excelled."\ -Houston Chronicle\ "Highly recommended."\ -Southern Historian\ "In addition to telling the story of the birth, life, and demise of a vibrant community, Smeltertown provides valuable insights."\ -Humanities Texas\ "A significant contribution to our understanding of Chicana/o and labor history. . . . Aside from being thoroughly researched, Perales's book is excellently composed. . . . It will be of use to labor, gender, environmental, and social historians."\ -Southwestern Historical Quarterly\ "Not just a narrative history . . . but also a look at how the community was created by Anglos and Hispanics, citizens and immigrants, rich and poor. . . . This well-researched and well-documented work would be a good addition for academic libraries, especially collections related to borderlands studies or labor issues."\ -Library Journal\ \ \ \ \ \ Library JournalSmeltertown, or La Esmelda, was a company town that developed around the American Smelting and Refining Company plant in El Paso, TX. Perales (history, Univ. of Houston) offers not simply a narrative history of this area, but also a look at how the community was created by Anglos and Hispanics, citizens and immigrants, rich and poor. The book explores the sometimes contradictory dichotomy between the history and the development of the community, in particular the paternal and often negative treatment of the Mexican labor pool, and how the residents, Esmeltianos, created a sense of place and fashioned their identities as Mexicans and Americans. Personal stories and remembrances throughout the text help paint a picture that appears rosier, at least in the Esmeltianos' memory, than the history portrays. VERDICT Though the text is a bit repetitious, this well-researched and well-documented work would be a good addition for academic libraries, especially collections related to borderlands studies or labor issues.—Mike Miller, Austin P.L., TX\ \
