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De León Book Earns Border Heritage Award

June 08, 2012

War Along the Border:  The Mexican Revolution and Tejano Communities, a book edited by Angelo State University history Professor Arnoldo De León, has received the Luciano Guajardo Award from the Webb County Heritage Foundation in Laredo.

The foundation presents the award “in recognition of efforts to promote awareness of the history, architecture or folklore of the region.”  De León received the award at the foundation’s annual banquet in May at Texas A&M International University in Laredo. 

War Along the Border:  The Mexican Revolution and Tejano Communities was published by Texas A&M University Press and includes 13 essays by scholars in the field of borderland studies.  In addition to De León’s introduction, the book also includes an essay by Dr. John Klingemann, an assistant professor of history at ASU. 

De León, ASU’s C.J. “Red” Davidson Professor of History, is the author or editor of 20 major books and numerous articles on Mexican-American and Texas history.  An ASU alumnus and faculty member since 1973, De León is considered one of the nation’s preeminent scholars in the field of Mexican-American history. 

The collection of essays originated from a query to De León by Professor Tatcho Mindiola of the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Houston about scholarship covering the impact of the Mexican Revolution on Hispanic communities in Texas.  When De León replied that very little such information had been compiled, Mindiola suggested De León pursue the topic.  De León solicited essays for the book and for a symposium held at the University of Houston in September of 2010 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution. 

The book also garnered last year’s Robert A. Calvert Book Prize as the best manuscript submitted to Texas A&M University Press on the history of the American South, West or Southwest.