The Zoot Suit Riots by Mauricio Mazon...

The Zoot Suit Riots by Mauricio Mazon (University of Texas: $12.95) is the latest scholarly work to probe the significance of the brawls that erupted in Los Angeles between uniformed servicemen and young Mexican-Americans in June, 1943. Those bloody incidents have been the subject of political and scholarly debate ever since they took place. Mazon’s contribution is a psychohistory of the riots in which he concludes that they were not as dangerous, or even riotous, as often portrayed. He also argues that their psychological significance has been overlooked, or misunderstood, by such varied observers as historian Carey McWilliams, Mexican poet Octavio Paz and Chicano playwright Luis Valdez. Mazon relies so heavily on psychological jargon to support his provocative thesis that his work may prove inaccessible to the general reader, but it is worth the effort for serious students of both Los Angeles and its Mexican-American community.