"Mora has written an excellent and scholarly contribution to our understanding of the origins of the concept of ’Hispanic’ and ’Latino.’  It is a nuanced study that eschews political correctness, whether of the Left or Right, and instead documents the politics of ethnic labeling and identity."

Mario T. García | University of California, Santa Barbara

“Today, Americans celebrate, describe, or worry about the growing Hispanic population. But if not for the actions of diverse individuals in the 1970s and 1980s, that population would probably be understood in other ways.  Based on extensive archival research and interviews with these individuals, Mora deftly shows how similar-minded activists, business interests, and others worked to construct and institutionalize the new ethno-racial category known as Hispanic, which has since become a widely-accepted form of identification and classification.”

Edward Telles | Princeton University

“It is tempting to think of cultural change as something that just happens. Mora examines one of the most important cultural changes of our time – the embrace of Hispanic identity by millions of Americans who previously thought of themselves in terms of national origin, and the embedding of that self-understanding in the daily routine operations of organizations as diverse as ad agencies, political parties, TV stations, and census bureaus, and demonstrates the complex range of interacting actors and motives behind this transformation.   Making Hispanics is not just a signal contribution to the study of ethnic and racial formation – it is a model and masterpiece of institutional analysis.”

Paul DiMaggio | Princeton University

"A compelling work of scholarship that is appealing to students of ethnic identity, sociology and organizational theory."

Hayagreeva Rao | Stanford Graduate School of Business

“How did a US population as nationally, ethnically, and socially diverse as today’s 55 million people of Latin American descent, come to be known as ‘Hispanics’ in the United States? In this well-written and thoroughly researched book, Mora carefully and successfully traces the history and combined efforts of activists, bureaucrats, and the mainstream media to construct this ‘ethnic group’—and to convince its members to identify as Hispanics in the United States. Making Hispanics is essential reading for anyone interested in the popularization and acceptance of panethnicity as a significant force in US politics and society to this day.”

Suzanne Oboler | John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York

“Well researched. . . . Berkeley sociologist Mora’s archival research unearths the confluence of important organizations and US institutions that together created a new brand of Americans who are still on the cusp of being accepted as full members of the US community. . . . Recommended.”

Choice

“A model and masterpiece. . . . No more is needed, except of course the exceptional talent of a Mora, to produce this (almost) perfect work of sociology . . .  Mora's is an American story twice over, which should be heeded in a Europe that, to paraphrase LBJ, still prefers to ‘trash’ its immigrants.”

European Journal of Sociology