The Preservation Of The Village: New Mexico's Hispanics And The New Deal (New Mexico Land Grant Series)

Newly issued in paperback, this lively volume recounts the history of New Mexico's traditional agriculture-based Hispanic villages during the Great Depression. Long overlooked by Anglos, these communities were rediscovered and targeted for revitalization in the 1930s by federal and state bureaucracies. New Deal programs promoted native crafts, agriculture, and communitarian values but overlooked the shortage of economic resources in New Mexico and the growing shift to modern technology in American society. Through archival sources, government documents, oral interviews, and newspapers, the author explains the rationale behind New Deal efforts and explores their effect on New Mexico's communities.

A new epilogue analyzes federal anti-poverty and revitalization programs of the 1960s and 1970s and grassroots cooperative movements of the 1980s and 1990s. William deBuys's foreword discusses the significance of this volume to our understanding of the New Deal in New Mexico.