This work addresses the protracted conflict rooted in the vast difference in power between Mexico and its northern neighbor. Each of the seven parts explores a key issue in borderlands studies.

Organized thematically, the book addresses population dynamics, immigration, interaction with the mainstream, assimilation into the labor force, and growth of the Mexican American middle class.

En esta obra, el profesor Oscar J. Martinez ha trazado la trayectoria de esta vecindad, relacion que ilustra ejemplarmente lo que debemos entender de manera estricta por cultura fronteriza.

"The main purpose of this book is to explain Mexico's substandard economic activity by applying the foundational factors approach primarily to Mexico and, for purposes of comparison, secondarily to the United States.