“Thompson’s book provides not only a powerfully written history of a Mexican American who symbolizes ‘resistance to oppression and intolerance,’ but also a clear, cogent explanation of the relationship between the United States and Mexico as they face each other across the Texas border.”—Journal of American History
“Jerry Thompson has produced the definitive work on one of the most controversial and influential Mexicano/Tejano figures of Texas and Southwestern history . . . . With stunning clarity and balance, Thompson has provided a much-needed narrative interpretation that brings to life one of the more colorful figures of Texas, Border, and Chicano histories.”—Hispanic Outlook
“Jerry Thompson has performed a difficult feat: comprehensively examining a life that had almost as many turns as a circle.”—Journal of Southern History
“This is the most well-researched and thorough account of Juan Nepomuceno Cortina’s life that we have. . . . This book certainly shows that Cortina ‘established his niche in the grand sweep of time,’ but it will be left to other scholars to follow the many trails hinted at by Thompson.”—Western Historical Quarterly
“Jerry Thompson’s sympathetic but balanced biography is a ‘must read’ for all students of Texas history and Anglo-Hispanic relations.”—East Texas Historical Journal
JERRY THOMPSON is a Regents Professor of History at Texas A&M International University in Laredo and a past president of the Texas State Historical Association. He is also the author of Tejanos in Gray: Civil War Letters of Captains Joseph Rafael de la Garza and Manuel Yturri, winner of the 2011 Tejano Book Award.
What People are Saying About This
John Mason Hart
This book is of exceptional quality. Through painstaking research the author establishes a new standard for the history of the Rio Grande Valley and Northeastern Mexico and offers a higher level of understanding for the historical significance of Juan Cortina. It will become a classic of Texas History. (John Mason Hart, The John and Rebecca Moores Professor of History, University of Houston)
David J. Weber
With stunning research and a crisp narrative, Jerry Thompson takes us beyond Juan Cortina's famous ‘war' against Anglo-controlled Brownsville and into Cortina's tumultuous life as a war lord on the Mexcian side of the Rio Grande. At last we have a full-scale biography of this fascinating figure, whose strong sense of justice for his people was matched only by his opportunism and ambition. (David J. Weber, Director, Clements Center for Southwest Studies, Southern Methodist University)
