Beyond the Alamo: Forging Mexican Ethnicity in San Antonio, 1821-1861Introducing a new model for the transnational history of the United States, Raul Ramos places Mexican Americans at the center of the Texas creation story. He focuses on Mexican Texan, or Tejano, society in a period of political transition beginning with the year of Mexican independence. Ramos explores the factors that helped shape the ethnic identity of the Tejano population, including cross cultural contacts between Bexarenos, indigenous groups, and