An American Language: The History of Spanish in the United States

by Rosina Lozano

Overview

"This is the most comprehensive book I’ve ever read about the use of Spanish in the U.S. Incredible research. Read it to understand our country. Spanish is, indeed, an American language."—Jorge Ramos

An American Language is a tour de force that revolutionizes our understanding of U.S. history. It reveals the origins of Spanish as a language binding residents of the Southwest to the politics and culture of an expanding nation in the 1840s. As the West increasingly integrated into the United States over the following century, struggles over power, identity, and citizenship transformed the place of the Spanish language in the nation. An American Language is a history that reimagines what it means to be an American—with profound implications for our own time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520297074
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	04/24/2018
Series:	American Crossroads , #49
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	376
Sales rank:	704,266
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Rosina Lozano is Associate Professor of History at Princeton University.

Table of Contents

Illustrations viii

Introduction 1

Part 1 A Language of Politics, 1848-1902

1 United by Land 21

2 Translation, a Measure of Power 38

3 Choosing Language 67

4 A Language of Citizenship 89

5 The United States Sees Language 111

Part 2 A Political Language, 1902-1945

6 A Language of Identity 137

7 The Limits of Americanization 167

8 Strategic Pan-Americanism 191

9 The Federal Government Rediscovers Spanish 211

10 Competing Nationalisms: Puerto Rico and New Mexico 232

Epilogue 253

Acknowledgments 267

Abbreviations 271

Notes 273

Select Bibliography 333

Index 355

Editorial Reviews

"Con este título la profesora Lozano hace una valiosa aportación al estudio de la historia de los hispanohablantes en el sur de los Estados Unidos, analizando su contexto político y social. La autora ha demostrado con este trabajo tan revelador que se pueden abrir nuevos caminos dentro de esa fructífera vía, aún poco investigada."

Journal of the Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies

"An American Language has breadth and vision. . . . [and] the implications of its findings surely reach to our day."

Latin American Research Review

"A well-written and -researched account of the complicated history of language in the United States and its relationship to power and people."

History of Education Quarterly

"A sophisticated and intricate narrative about the foundational history of Spanish in the United States, as well as the history of ethnic Mexican U.S. citizens (treaty citizens, Mexican immigrants, and U.S.–born citizens of Mexican descent)."

Journal of Arizona History

"An outstanding contribution to historiography. It will become a standard reference on language in the American Southwest. Its wealth of primary sources and thematic interventions in a variety of topics brilliantly demonstrates just how much can be uncovered by a focus on that most basic of topics—language."

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

"Lozano has made a strong case for language as a tool for expressing power. . . . In sum, the author succeeds at illuminating the dynamic history of Spanish language rights in the United States. And, in the process she also offers an important corrective to the notion of a monolingual national politic."

Latino Book Review

"An American Language provides an original discussion of linguistic citizenship and offers insight into the historical racialization of Spanish-speakers. . . . Lozano skillfully garners archival sources to offer an insightful comparative analysis of the changing status of Spanish in the United States, and the role that Spanish-speakers—from treaty citizens to Chicanos—played in refusing second-class citizenship based on their use of Spanish."

Journal of American History

"An American Language is not only an important book because the conflict over who gets to speak Spanish in the U.S. continues, but because Lozano does a thorough job at documenting and telling the history of Spanish in U.S. society. Lozano has made a significant contribution not only to the history of Spanish, but to language policy, politics, and planning. It is an asset to language rights advocates and pushes the boundaries of Spanish in the U.S. as a field of inquiry."

Spanish in Context

"This is the most comprehensive book I’ve ever read about the use of Spanish in the U.S. Incredible research. Read it to understand our country. Spanish is, indeed, an American language." -- Jorge Ramos

Jorge Ramos