This work provides a revealing look at the history of Hispanic peoples in the American West (or, from the Mexican perspective, El Norte) from the period of Spanish colonization through the present day.

Hispanics in the American West portrays the daily lives, struggles, and triumphs of Spanish-speaking peoples from the arrival of Spanish conquistadors to the present, highlighting such defining moments as the years of Mexican sovereignty, the Mexican-American War, the coming of the railroad, the great Mexican migration in the early 20th century, the Great Depression, World War II, the Chicano Movement that arose in the mid-1960s, and more.

Coverage includes Hispanics of all nationalities (not just Mexican, but Cuban, Puerto Rican, Salvadoran, and Guatemalan, among others) and ranges beyond the "traditional" Hispanic states (Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado) to look at newer communities of Spanish-speaking peoples in Oregon, Hawaii, and Utah. The result is a portrait of Hispanic American life in the West that is uniquely inclusive, insightful, and surprising.