Language of Blood

John M Nieto-Phillips, himself a nuevomexicano, argues that Spanish-American identity evolved out of a medieval rhetoric about blood purity, or limpieza de sangre, as well as a modern longing to enter the United States's white body politic. He is associate professor of history and Latino studies at Indiana University, Bloomington.

""Language of Blood" is a fine addition to the historiography of New Mexico and the West." ""Language of Blood" is an excellent study into the intersectionality of race, color, and language that so shaped an identity in New Mexico." ." . excellently objective, subtly passionate, and thoroughly well-researched and perspicaciously argued study of identity among New Mexicans." ""The Language of Blood" reveals different and important developments in racial identity, American nationalism, and the relationship of region to nation in the Southwest often disregarded or deemed insignificant by the dominant Northeastern and Southern histories that comprise the field of American history." "A superb treatment of a very relevant and timely subject." "Although "The Language of Blood" will find its primary audience among academics, it should also appeal to a general readership. The narrative is straightforward and illuminating." "In this well-written history, Nieto-Phillips explores the complex and often misunderstood nature of "Spanish-American" identity among Latinos in New Mexico. His well-organized survey of the long history of racial caste and bloodline heritage in Spain, Spanish America, and the US Southwest shows how older caste practices marked lines of seperation in these hybrid Spanish cultures. . . Highly recommended." "Nieto-Phillips' book reflects first-rate scholarship. . . The extensive index, bibliography, and endnotes make this book an outstanding research tool for rhetoric, history, Latino studies, sociology, anthropology, race, class, and the demographics of the Southwestern United States." "Nieto-Phillips' work is an excellent start to the study of New Mexico identity politics."