In the early years of the twentieth century, newcomer farmers and migrant Mexicans forged a new world in South Texas. In just a decade, this vast region, previously considered too isolated and desolate for large-scale agriculture, became one of the United States' most lucrative farming regions and one of its worst places to work. By encouraging mass migration from Mexico, paying low wages, selectively enforcing immigration restrictions, toppling older political arrangements, and periodically immobilizing the workforce, growers created a system of labor controls unique in its levels of exploitation. Ethnic Mexican residents of South Texas fought back by organizing and by leaving, migrating to destinations around the United States where employers eagerly hired them — and continued to exploit them. In From South Texas to the Nation , John Weber reinterprets the United States' record on human and labor rights. This important book illuminates the way in which South Texas pioneered the low-wage, insecure, migration-dependent labor system on which so many industries continue to depend. “Texas finally finds its Victor Hugo and John Steinbeck — in the halls of the academy.” — Texas Monthly “Contributes to understanding the histories of labor and racial relations in Texas, the Mexican American world, and the US.” — CHOICE “Turns a penetrating historical eye on the cultural heritage of South Texas.” — Austin American-Statesman “Unquestionably deserves a wide readership. . . . Weber’s analysis [is] useful and perhaps indispensable.” — Texas Books in Review “To understand, from a historical perspective, why comprehensive immigration reform is a dishonest possibility, From South Texas to the Nation is a must read.” — Western Historical Quarterly “[An] innovative and much-needed examination of south Texas norms. . . . Essential reading for anyone interested in the study of work and workers in the United States, guest worker programs, Chicano history, immigrant and Mexican American rights, and the study of Mexican American culture in the borderlands.”— Journal of American History “An approachable and chronologically ambitious book about the exploitation of Mexican labor in the United States from the late nineteenth century to the present.” — Southwestern Historical Quarterly “This is an absolutely terrific work that is clearly written, thoroughly researched, and sweeping in its chronological scope. The story Weber tells will be relevant to contemporary debates about the nature of immigration and low-wage labor markets. From South Texas to the Nation will surely join a growing list of books that move these issues from the fringes to the center of our understanding of the evolution of race and labor relations in the Southwest.” — Alex Lichtenstein, Indiana University “John Weber masterfully situates the state as a tool supporting agricultural businesses and social domination by Anglo elites in South Texas. This book provides innovative insights to American labor history and our understanding of the modern state.” ― Raúl A. Ramos, University of Houston “John Weber masterfully situates the state as a tool supporting agricultural businesses and social domination by Anglo elites in South Texas. This book provides innovative insights to American labor history and our understanding of the modern state.” — Raúl A. Ramos, University of Houston Reinterprets the United States' record on human and labor rights John Weber is associate professor of history at Old Dominion University.