Man of Fire
About the Book
Activist, labor scholar, and organizer Ernesto Galarza (1905-1984) was a leading advocate for Mexican Americans and one of the most important Mexican American scholars and activists after World War II. This volume gathers Galarza's key writings, reflecting an intellectual rigor, conceptual clarity, and a constructive concern for the working class in the face of America's growing influence over Mexico's economic system. Including excerpts from some of Galarza's indispensable books Barrio Boy and Merchants of Labor: The Mexican Bracero Story as well as articles, conference papers, interviews, and previously unpublished reports, the writings in this collection cover such timely subjects as labor, community development, immigration politics and the Bracero Program, the Chicano movement, Mexican American education, ethnic relations, and U.S.-Mexico relations.About the Author
Ernesto Galarza was an activist, professor, writer, and a key figure in the farm workers' labor movement in the United States. Armando Ibarra is an associate professor in the School for Workers at the University of Wisconsin-Extension and a faculty member in Chican@/Latin@ studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Rodolfo D. Torres is a professor of urban planning, political science, and Chican@/Latin@ studies at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of Race Defaced: Paradigms of Pessimism, Politics of Possibility..Reviews
"This outstanding compilation of the selected writings of Ernesto Galarza features an excellent introduction, despite the fact that relatively little is known about Galarza's private life other than what he reveals in his autobiography. Highly Recommended."--Choice"Ibarra and Torres are to be commended for their efforts to provide students and scholars new access to the writings of Ernesto Galarza. Man on Fire serves as both an effective summation of his work and a starting point for detailed investigation of a scholar-activist whose output and activities have sadly fallen into undeserved obscurity." --Labor
Blurbs
"Ernesto Galarza was a prescient analyst and powerful writer, a scholar, poet, and social activist whose work has profoundly influenced and interested so many. This book will be of use to activists who interrogate political economy and develop strategies that address inequities in class and race."--Patricia Zavella, author of I'm Neither Here nor There: Mexicans' Quotidian Struggles with Migration and Poverty
"A valuable and timely collection of writings by Ernesto Galarza, one of the most important Mexican American scholar-activists of the post–World War II era. This volume will secure Galarza's legacy and introduce him to a new generation of scholars and political activists."--Benjamin Márquez, author of Constructing Identities in Mexican American Political Organizations: Choosing Issues, Taking Sides
Awards
• Winner, Choice: Outstanding Academic Titles, 2013Related Titles
