| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 96.2

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 96.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Mexican American Religions: Spirituality, Activism, and Culture. Ed. by Gastón Espinosa and Mario T. García. (Durham: Duke University Press, 2008. x, 443 pp. Cloth, $94.95, ISBN 978-0-8223-4098-0. Paper, $25.95, ISBN 978-0-8223-4119-2.)

Mexican American Religions, a compilation of works of fourteen authors edited (with a short introduction and conclusion) by Gastón Espinosa and Mario T. García, is quite impressionistic and, with a few exceptions, not of general historical interest. The volume explores "religious sentiments in literature, art, politics, and pop culture and relies on authors engaged in interdisciplinary scholarship," to show that "some of the most important insights into Mexican American religions are found in unexpected places: novels, political protests, art, poetry, pop music icons, and the like" (p. 4). It adopts a religious studies approach with a "pluralistic" and "nonsectarian" perspective. Curiously, the authors make little use of the interdisciplinary social science approaches offered by geographers and sociologists, making the overarching themes of ethnic conflict, resistance to oppression, and the pursuit of social justice seem static. More attention on the historical and contemporary impact of migration on Mexican American religions—Catholicism, Protestantism, and others—would have been helpful.

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