[4] Joseph A. Rodriguez of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee wrote that the book, along with several others by other authors, was made to illustrate that Mexican-Americans were bicultural and to counter the 1960s Chicano sentiment against assimilation.

[6] Mauricio Mazon of the University of Southern California (USC) wrote that the book covers "a conscious movement toward the incorporation of the American dream, especially in terms of its economic and political potential" and at the same time "shows how the ethos of lo mexicano was sustained as a cultural symbol".

[1] Richard A. Garcia of Santa Monica College wrote that the book author argued that the changes in American society in its history were "dialectically intertwined" with that of the Mexican-American community in particular and that the latter did not exist in a vacuum.

[4] Mario T. García of Yale University wrote that De León, "unlike other historians, has given us a greater sense of how Mexicans have changed in time in a particular urban setting.

[6] De León, at the time working at the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Houston as a visiting scholar, researched the book from 1986 through 1987.