Rating: 
Summary: At last the plain truth!!
Review: This book is a well written,well thought out work.Mr Hanson has provided an accurate and real world description of what it means to live and work in a small town full of illegal immigrants.It is a refreshing and enlightning tale which everybody who is a legal resident in california should read.
I find myself constantly agreeing with every observation and experience Mr Hanson relates on every single page.To those who read this book and find it hard to believe,you obviously do not live in california.I too am an immigrant, a legal one, and yet I find that this book speaks volumes about the need for controlled immigration.The problems we face in california today will be nothing compared to the next 10 to 15 years when ,because of an outmoded believe in having more children than brain cells, our population will expolde into unmanageable levels.
I,like the author,live in a small california town with a high number of Mexican immigrants and can honestly say that everything that the author mentions is an everyday reality.I appreciated the authors honesty and intellect.
I repeat ,everyone who gives a damn about California and its future should read this NON-BIASED book.
Rating:
Summary: A Tinely Debate!
Review: An excellent book on a timely subject. The massive flow of illegal immigration in the US has been largely ignorted by politicians. The PC crowd have succeeded in labeling anyone as racist who brings up this subject. Only Victor Hanson Davis has the courage to address this growing problem. The massive influx of immigration in California is not the only area where this problem is most acute. The Eastern parts of the US are also suffering from this problem. Hanson, the philosophic military historian tackles this controversial issue with the same passion and factual analysis that he has applied to all his other books.Hanson writes with clarity and vision. His determination to take on non-historical topics is broadening his perspective, and making him something of a sage on the current American political-social scene. With his anti-establishment views toward the University elite who are detached from the every day problems in America today, Hanson provides cogent reasosn why this problem should be addressed before it is too late. In a society that is fearful to address anything controversial, Hanson is a refreshing voice of reason. His arguments will no doubt be frightening to ultra-liberals, but those who read him carefuly will see that he attacks both Left and Right in this country. Hanson is more middle of the road than many Americans today can admit. He speaks for many who have been cowed by a heavy-handed media, and by demogogues who use race is a means for power. For those seeking a refreshing voice of clarity, with a strong grasp of history, Victor Hanson Davis has finally arrived!
Rating: 
Summary: Racist paranoia from bigot
Review: This book is one of the most offensive publications in years. While some say it is "informative" and the like, I can sum it up in 1 sentence.....the author hates all Latino people and has some delusional idea that California should lily-white. Maybe he should move to the neighborhood in New York where the "Friends" live?
Rating:
Summary: Must Reading for All Americans
Review: Victor Davis Hanson's "Mexifornia" is a well researched, sensitive, balanced account of how hordes of non-assimilating Mexican immigrants are taking over California and turning it into another Mexico. Dr. Hanson is sympathetic to everyone affected by this except the multi-culturalist professors who promote the "Aztlan movement" (a return of the U.S. Southwest to Mexico). These professors will have apoplexy over this book. Few people in this country are aware of the strong feelings that Hispanic professors and legal and illegal aliens have about turning this part of our country into a kind of branch of Mexico. Dr. Hanson makes the point that immigrants forget why they left Mexico in the first place. They romanticize their memories of home and try to change the very culture here that they sought (American freedom and opportunity) into another Third World country. He tells how one immigrant friend told him, "When we turn California into Mexico, we will move up to Oregon. When we turn Oregon into Mexico, we will move up to Washington..." Dr. Hanson's conclusions in the Epilogue are stunning and are worth twice the price of the book. Every American who understands and cherishes our unique American culture should read this book. Dr. Hanson's tastiest quote from the book: "I have a fantasy that somewhere in some secretive laboratory in Montana a white supremacist and a crackpot racist got together, brewed the germs of our present school curriculum, concocted the virus of La Raza separatist and racist mythology, and then released these pathogens by night in aerosol form to be inhaled by unsuspecting Californians, who then proceeded unknowingly to destroy the aspirations of millions of desperately poor aliens."
Rating:
Summary: This wave is different.
Review: Victor Hanson combines scholarship (Professor at Cal State) with personal experience (life long resident and farmer in central CA. who has Mexican-American family and friends) to present a thoughtful look at the illegal Mexican immigration crisis. Hanson argues that the reason for this crisis is that both ends of the political spectrum have vested interests in continuing the unabated entry of illegal Mexicans. Republicans wish to placate business interests with cheap labor and Democrats hope for a future electoral base. Hanson further explains that this wave is not like the earlier waves of Polish, Jewish, or Italian immigration which was of a fixed duration and where the connection of the new immigrant to the Homeland was more thoroughly severed.
This book is well written and to the point (approx. 140 pages). I have also seen Victor Hanson on several political talk shows. He is well spoken and mild mannered which is a welcome relief from the cacophonous diatribe we too often get on cable news channels.
Rating:
Summary: Racist paranoia from bigot
Review: This book is one of the most offensive publications in years. While some say it is "informative" and the like, I can sum it up in 1 sentence.....the author hates all Latino people and has some delusional idea that California should lily-white. Maybe he should move to the neighborhood in New York where the "Friends" live?
Rating:
Summary: Expert?
Review: Is anyone else concerned that this professor is a professor of *Classics*? Shouldn't he be writing books about *Classical* Greece and the Roman Empire?
Sure, it's eloquently written but the four "solutions" are not as "balanced" as the review suggests: if the U.S. is concerned about undocumented immigration and the benefits that corrupt Mexican officials get (such as preventing revolution or political upheaval), shouldn't the U.S. be putting pressure on the Mexican government to improve the humanitarian conditions or provide aid? One more rhetorical question: how much can you trust an author who has himself benefitted from migrant workers?
Rating: 
Summary: Everybody's Burden
Review: Victor David Hanson's Mexifornia is a collection of 7 essays that eloquently argues that unchecked immigration from Mexico is altering the American-ness of California. Far from academic, Hanson makes plenty of personal observations, but, unfortunately, he provides few corresponding facts. This is the most glaring inadequacy of the book--the imbalance between statements and statements that can be supported. Taken as theory, Mexifornia is incredibly strong as to how 4 major factors, unless confronted, will undermine the benefits of why people choose to settle in California: to flee from failed economies into one of unlimited prosperity. With bold insight, Hanson explores: *America's addiction to cheap labor, no matter what the cost to its social fabric. *Mexico's willingness to enable millions of its citizens to leave in hopes of avoiding its own racism and thwarting a revolution. *Academia's recent trend in rewriting history and advocating cultural separatism, which may harm immigrants' ability to prosper in America. *Unsuspecting tax and personal burdens to both Mexicans and Americans. Mexifornia begins an honest examination into why California is bankrupt and full of social tensions. To dispel the book as racist does nothing to solve the state's massive problems. As Hanson repeatedly states, no matter what your ethnic background, if you live in California, you will have to make some very unpleasant decisions in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Mexiphobia
Review: Hanson's arguments in this book simply perpetuate stereotypes about Mexicans and contribute to racist ideologies that currently exist in the United States. I think a better title for his book would be Mexiphobia.
Rating:
Summary: Heed the message, not the messenger
Review: I understand and even agree with the critics who say that Victor David Hanson reinforces some dangerous stereotypes. Despite this, I think the good in this book outweighs the bad. In the end, his message is a positive one as he offers solutions that could vastly improve life for immigrants as well as citizens. The book gave me hope that politicians and activists would take Hanson's proposals to heart, though it seems unlikely to happen since he offers long-term solutions, not quick fixes. On the negative side, Hanson repeatedly makes oversimplified generalizations of Hispanic attitudes and behaviors based on his own local experience. And, his attempt to provide balance to the debate by occasionally mentioning the benefits of cheap labor is only half-hearted. But to focus on the controversy is to miss the really important ideas, such as gearing education to reinforce American ideals. There are some really inspiring ideas here. It's too bad that Hanson's controversial approach will prevent his message from reaching a larger audience, but maybe his ideas will find a voice.
| 
