Law, Non-Linear Racialization, and Asymmetrical Hierarchies in the American West: An Ode to Manifest Destinies

Today's spin on the roulette wheel of the Random Law Review came up on Robert F. Castro, Law, Non-Linear Racialization, and Asymmetrical Hiearchies in the American West: An Ode to Manifest Destinies, 10 Rutgers Race & L. Rev. 469 (2009). I didn't realize until I started reading that this is actually an extended book review ("book review essay" in law review parlance), so I'll probably exclude them from future editions of the Random Law Review. Anyway, the book under review here (Laura Gómez's Manifest Destinies: The Making of the Mexican American Race) does sound like an interesting read. The book talks about the historical treatment of Mexicans by the United States, with a special focus on how various political and legal concepts served to racialize Mexicans (and U.S. citizens of Mexican descent) in ways that share some similarities with but extreme differences from the way African-Americans and Native Americans were (and are) racialized. Castro's review is quite favorable, and Gómez's book sounds like a solid bet for anyone interested in the subject.