"Departing from the standard studies of Texas or Mexican mining which remain lodged within the nation-state, in Mexican Coal Mining Labor in Texas and Coahuila, 1880-1930, Roberto Calderon presents a transnational comparative framework for understanding the complex matrix of mining, investment capital, labor markets, railroad construction, and racial ideology in Texas and Coahuila, Mexico, during a period of economic growth and social disruption on both sides of the border.

Placing industry within the political economy of both Mexico and the western United States, he presents an intriguing discussion of the establishment of the mines, the industrial and urban markets, and the life and work of workers and their response to changing conditions. With detailed research, he paints a vivid portrait of the industry at the time unlike any existing history.

In so doing, Calderon revises the view that Mexican workers were careless and difficult to work with and documents their struggle for recognition and union organization."--BOOK JACKET.