Elizabeth Escobedo dedicates this fascinating book to her Auntie Ernie and Auntie Ida and to all the other women who lived the World War II experience. The multiple meanings of the war for Mexican-origin women, as well as their wartime identities and how they were viewed, are concerns at the heart of Escobedo's analysis. The author has masterfully crafted an argument based on the nuances and complexities of these women's overlapping identities. They served as war workers, volunteers, and dance hostesses, but many of them also wore the zoot suit as a cultural emblem and as a political statement. Whether behaving as respectable young ladies or expressing their experiences as rebellious daughters, the collective behavior of these women of Mexican descent reveals the many tensions wrought by years of both opportunity and limitation.

The 1940s represented a period of opportunities for Mexican American women as many joined the ranks of wartime workers, enjoying more lucrative pay than they had earned as domestics, field hands, and garment workers. Increased earning power meant that they could participate in US consumer culture, buying cosmetics and clothes such as zoot suits. Also, with a good number of male relatives serving in the military, few men were around to chaperone young women. Sexual freedom might also have increased somewhat, though it was often contested, and the source of some intergenerational conflicts. Another limitation faced by young Mexican American women involved both societal and institutional racism. For all the biculturalism taking shape, and for all the talk of Americans patriotically coming together in time of war, racial tension erupted from time to time, as in the case of the zoot suit riots.

Escobedo's examination of the shifting meanings of race and nationality, and the effects these had on Mexican American women, highlight their opportunities for integration in society and even some levels of assimilation, as many found acceptance in the workplace and social multiethnic spaces, where some dated non-Latino men (105, 110). Still, those who chose to wear the zoot suit found little tolerance in an environment where the “Americans All” program of wartime unity castigated anyone who emphasized a cultural heritage beyond the bounds of an American nationalism deemed critical in the home front battleground (6, 45).

One of the strongest parts of the book is its analysis of the contradictions in the lives of second-generation women. They had more opportunities than their mothers did, both in the workplace and socially. Yet they also experienced great social pressures. On the one hand, there were conflicts with parents who could no longer exert social control since their daughters were self-supporting. On the other, through their work Mexican American women expressed their patriotism and loyalty to a nation that criticized them for their dress and social lives, connecting these to loose sexuality and juvenile delinquency. In the tense Los Angeles wartime climate, zoot suit pants and skirts hemmed above the knee, as well as pachuca hair and makeup styles, were considered scandalous. The company they kept also received scrutiny. The press critiqued them for hanging out with male zoot suitors while their parents disapproved of interracial and interethnic dating (69).

Ultimately, World War II expanded Mexican American women's agency and authority over their lives. The opportunities to earn higher wages, to feel proud of contributing to their nation's success in war, to date and even marry outside their ethno-racial group, and to make everyday personal choices about appearance and course of action instilled in them a sense of independence and self-confidence in their ability to create their own destinies (141–44).

This book makes wonderful contributions to sociopolitical and cultural historiographies. It is “bottom-up” history at its best. The book is enriched by many varied and interesting sources. I was particularly impressed with the rich treasure trove of over fifty oral histories, the majority of which were conducted by the author. It is the voices of the young women that make the narrative come alive even as the author's keen observations and analysis provide readers with proper historical contexts and intelligent interpretations (392).

From Coveralls to Zoot Suits is a significant book, providing us with a thorough examination of the personal and working lives of Mexican American women that allows us to appreciate the important ways in which second-generation women developed and expressed political identities during a time of changing racial and gender boundaries in America's World War II home front.