Douglas T. Gurak

Family Formation and Marital Selectivity Among Colombian and Dominican Immigrants in New York City.

Utilizing data from a 1981 survey of Dominican and Colombian immigrants to New York City, and from 1975 marriage certificates for the entire city, this article describes the extent of family formation in the U.S. and patterns of marital selectivity of recent Hispanic immigrants residing in New York City. A core goal of the analysis is the provision of indicators of the extent of and nature of integration processes at an early stage of the immigration.

International migration trends in Latin America: research and data survey

Since the 1950s, international migration in Latin America has been transformed from immigration from extra-regional sources, to migration among countries within Latin America itself. While this shift has been noted in the literature, its systematic study remains in its infancy. This paper provides an overview of the literature dealing with international migration in Latin America, and it addresses problems with transit and census data for the region. In addition, the main themes of the other papers of this issue are introduced and several lines of needed research are suggested.

Book Review: A Borderlands Town in Transition: Laredo, 1755–1870A Borderlands Town in Transition: Laredo, 1755–1870. By HinojosaGilberto Miguel. College Station, TX: Texas A & M University Press, 1983. Pp. 148.

The history of the border region between Mexico and Texas reflects the conflict and change produced by its transition to that status from one where it was a distant outpost of Mexico and located far from the borders of the United States. Using the tools of quantitative history, Hinojosas book seeks to add descriptive flesh to our sparse knowledge of the lives of the settlers in the heart of this border region. His historical reconstruction traverses several key transitions in the history of Mexico, the United States and the region. The account be~ins during the era of Spanish colonial domination; moves through the period of the struggle for independence and the subsequent struggle between the centralists and federalists for control of Mexico; observes the growing presence of settlers from the United States an? the transition to control by the U.S.; chronicles the structural changes produced by the ascendancy of the North Americans; and leaves us at a point just after the Civil War which had directly involved the settlers of Laredo. While the above events play important roles in organizing both the book and the lives of its subjects, Hinojosa does not seek to provide a history of those events. His principal goal is the presentation of as much of the situations of typical residents of the area around Laredo as existing data sources will permit. In the manner of Stephan Thernstrom (The Other Bostonians) he desires to go beyond the dominant accounts which have relied heavily on the records left by the town councils, churches and garrison and consequently focused more on the leaders of the area. Hinojosa utilizes city and county records, census reports and the census manuscripts for 1850 through 1880 to construct a demographic picture of Laredo that is embedded in a brief discussion of major historical events that impacted the area. His major substantive goal is the demonstration that local constraints and opportunities were more important than distant national goals in shaping everyday life. Perhaps the foremost indicator of this position is the central limiting role that vulnerability to Indian attacks is shown to have played in the development of Laredo. The demographic description that Hinojosa weaves into his abbreviated chronicle of major historical events provides some insight into the life situations of settlers at various points in time, but leaves the reader somewhat disappointed. Thus we learn that the populati~m has increased or decreased; that household size has varied, if only a little; that the sex ratio has shifted; that the ethnic composition has shifted; that the distribution of occupations has become more varied; etc. These descriptive data are interesting and they do add to the completeness of our knowledge of life in Laredo. Nevertheless, the bulk of Hinojosas monograph is a more traditional historical reconstruction of the major events, personalities and trends that constituted the outside parameters of life and change in Laredo. That is, the demographics are repeatedly inserted, but their information content is quite low. Consequently, what comes through most strongly are the brief vignettes from more traditional sources. These include descriptions of the evolution of elite families. This is an interesting book for readers concerned with the history of intercultural contact in the Southwest United States. The author is very successful in molding the sparse demographic data into a rich descriptive text of everyday life and mobility, and other aspects of the book detract from its potential. For example, the brief effort at comparative analysis with other Mexican settlements that came to be located within the boundaries of the U.S. would benefit greatly by being given more attention. At several points (e.g., p. 34)Hinojosa displays a disconcerting tendency to interpret weak correlations of slight variations in demographic figures with historical changes in other areas as causal effects. This is clearly inappropriate in such a descriptive work. Nevertheless, the unpretentious history supplemented by data on demographic trends represents some solid research and results in some useful reading.

10.95.

the Gary Plan and the Hanus Committee report. A number of educational and political leaders such as: Superintendent Maxwell, Mayors LDw, McClellan, and Gaynor, Principals Julia Richman, and Leonard Covello, and Miss Lillian Wald, are discussed at some length in light of their respective promotion or opposition to the so-called Progressive Reforms that eventually took hold. In fact the roles of several dozen educators, political figures, and public minded citizens are skillfully woven into the total narrative adding considerably to an understanding of this crucial fifteen year era. This history would be an excellent adjunct to the famous memoirs of people like Mary Antin, Michael Cole, Marcus Pavage, Mary Simkovitch, Lillian Wald, Leonard Covello, Angelo Patri, Constantine Panunzio, and Anzia Yezierska. All touch upon the social and human side of the immigrant problem and give their memoirs an important historical continuity. There is little doubt that this is an important addition to the historical literature on this period. It is unfortunate that it has been reproduced by offset-reduction from the original typescript which can present some visual difficulty for the reader. However, the contents are well worth the effort. This work belongs in the Arno series.