Smeltertown

Making and Remembering a Southwest Border Community

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Politics, Labour & Industrial Relations, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Ethnic Studies, History, Americas, United States
Cover of the book Smeltertown by Monica Perales, The University of North Carolina Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Monica Perales ISBN: 9780807899564
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: September 13, 2010
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: Monica Perales
ISBN: 9780807899564
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: September 13, 2010
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

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 the history of this forgotten community. Spanning almost a century, Smeltertown traces the birth, growth, and ultimate demise of a working class community in the largest U.S. city on the Mexican border and places ethnic Mexicans at the center of transnational capitalism and the making of the urban West. Perales shows that Smeltertown was composed of multiple real and imagined social worlds created by the company, the church, the schools, and the residents themselves. Within these dynamic social worlds, residents forged permanence and meaning in the shadow of the smelter's giant smokestacks. Smeltertown provides insight into how people and places invent and reinvent themselves and illuminates a vibrant community grappling with its own sense of itself and its place in history and collective memory.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

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 the history of this forgotten community. Spanning almost a century, Smeltertown traces the birth, growth, and ultimate demise of a working class community in the largest U.S. city on the Mexican border and places ethnic Mexicans at the center of transnational capitalism and the making of the urban West. Perales shows that Smeltertown was composed of multiple real and imagined social worlds created by the company, the church, the schools, and the residents themselves. Within these dynamic social worlds, residents forged permanence and meaning in the shadow of the smelter's giant smokestacks. Smeltertown provides insight into how people and places invent and reinvent themselves and illuminates a vibrant community grappling with its own sense of itself and its place in history and collective memory.

More books from The University of North Carolina Press

Cover of the book Reparation and Reconciliation by Monica Perales
Cover of the book Radical Relations by Monica Perales
Cover of the book Sidney Poitier by Monica Perales
Cover of the book The Logic of Compromise in Mexico by Monica Perales
Cover of the book Capitalizing on Change by Monica Perales
Cover of the book Slang and Sociability by Monica Perales
Cover of the book Pickles and Preserves by Monica Perales
Cover of the book Heart versus Head by Monica Perales
Cover of the book Religion on Campus by Monica Perales
Cover of the book Community Power Succession by Monica Perales
Cover of the book Legislating Privacy by Monica Perales
Cover of the book The American Union and the Problem of Neighborhood by Monica Perales
Cover of the book North Carolina beyond the Connected Age by Monica Perales
Cover of the book The Divided Family in Civil War America by Monica Perales
Cover of the book Sin City North by Monica Perales
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy