| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 87.3

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 87.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Refusing the Favor: The Spanish-Mexican Women of Santa Fe, 1820–1880. By Deena J. González. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. xx, 186 pp. $45.00, ISBN 0-19-507890-X.)

In her often eloquent and thought-provoking book, Deena J. González reconstructs the lives of Spanish-Mexican women as simultaneously victims of colonization and agents of resistance in the changing political and economic climate of nineteenth-century New Mexico. With its examination of new archival sources (including trials and wills) and its innovative interpretations, González's book represents a welcome addition to Chicano/a history, women's history, western history, and American history. 1

González acknowledges that prior to 1848 Spanish-Mexican women lived within a patriarchal "oppressive class-delineated society," yet she emphasizes that they also frequented courts of law, could sue and be sued, and could own property within marriage, all rights denied to eastern American women in this period. As a result of United States conquest in 1846, 90 percent of Spanish-Mexicans lost their land, and Spanish-Mexican women became poorer and lost many of their earlier rights. Despite their diminished status, however, they resisted the Anglo takeover. Gertrudis Barceló, or La Tules, for example, operated a bustling saloon and gambling hall in Santa Fe. Although newcomers heaped scorn on La Tules, González portrays her as a shrewd businesswoman who attempted to exploit the new merchant capitalism. . . .

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