Of Fields and Forests is an excellent work detailing the history of Mexican agricultural labor in the Pacific Northwest. The son of a Tejano father and Mexican immigrant mother who both migrated to work in the Oregon fields, Mario Jimenez Sifuentez brings great passion to this deeply personal and highly valuable study that effectively uses a variety of sources, including oral histories, to paint an in-depth picture of an often forgotten labor force.
The book is composed of three stories about Mexican laborers in the Northwest. First, Sifuentez explores the history of braceros in the Pacific Northwest during and immediately after World War II, noting a very different history from those working in the Southwest. Braceros in the Pacific Northwest had significantly more control over their labor than those in the Southwest due to the Northwest’s labor shortage and the distance from the Mexican border, making the cost to growers...
