During the first half of the twentieth century, South Texas went from being a geographically and economically isolated area to becoming a model for the rest of the nation on agrarian relations and economic development. Historian John Weber examines this change in his absorbing book, From South Texas to the Nation. He demonstrates how growers in South Texas encouraged migration from Mexico and then sought to immo-bilize workers there in order to be able to pay them exploitative low wages. In part as a result of this unparalleled system of labor control, South Texas became one of the most lucrative farming areas in the United States and a paradigm for growers elsewhere.

The book moves along chronologically, tracing the sweeping changes that occurred in migration-dependent farms in Texas. Weber focuses primarily on the first fifty years of the twentieth century but contextualizes his analysis in an even broader scope...

You do not currently have access to this content.