José López
Through this second volume of selected essays, the author continues to bring attention to the Spanish Mexican foundation roots of Texas and the Southwest. As with volume 1, this book focuses on a most intriguing questionthat is, if mainstream historians tell us that Texas history begins in 1836 with the arrival of Anglo-Saxon and Northern Europeandescent immigrants from the US, why then is everything historically old (states, towns, roads, rivers, geographical regions, etc.) named in Spanish?Equally, this book is a reminder that Spanish Mexican (and brethren Native American) traditions are the founding components of New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, California, and surrounding regions. They are not the result of recent immigration. This vast territory is distinctively Native American in character and gives Spanish land grant heirs and mestizo descendants of Spanish Mexican pioneer founders the right to preserve their rich heritage on this side of the border.
