Overview

Southwest Montana is beautiful country, evoking mythologies of freedom and escape long associated with the West. Partly because of its burgeoning presence in popular culture, film, and literature, including William Kittredge's anthology The Last Best Place, the scarcely populated region has witnessed an influx of wealthy, white migrants over the last few decades. But another, largely invisible and unstudied type of migration is also present. Though Mexican migrants have worked on Montana's ranches and farms since the 1920s, increasing numbers of migrant families-both documented and undocumented-are moving to the area to support its growing construction and service sectors. The Last Best Place? asks us to consider the multiple racial and class-related barriers that Mexican migrants must negotiate in the unique context of Montana's rural gentrification. These daily life struggles and inter-group power dynamics are deftly examined through extensive interviews and ethnography, as are the ways gender structures inequalities within migrant families and communities. But Leah Schmalzbauer's research extends even farther to highlight the power of place and demonstrate how Montana's geography and rurality intersect with race, class, gender, family, illegality, and transnationalism to affect migrants' well-being and aspirations. Though the New West is just one among many new destinations, it forces us to recognize that the geographic subjectivities and intricacies of these destinations must be taken into account to understand the full complexity of migrant life.

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9780804792936

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Reviews

With perception and nuance, this carefully analyzed and engagingly written book opens a window into the everyday lives of immigrants in the 'New West' to offer a fresh approach to the challenges that configure life in this uncharted terrain. Humane and insightful, The Best Last Place? is highly recommended to anyone interested in the wellbeing of immigrants today. --Cecilia Menjivar, Arizona State University

The Last Best Place lays bare the fascinating consequences of place on immigrant integration. Schmalzbauer's discussion of the ways in which this untraditional destination shapes gender and family dynamics is brilliant. Empathetic, theoretically rich, and beautifully written, this book breaks new ground in immigration research. --Mary C. Waters, Harvard University

"""The geographies of migration are shifting. Leah Schmalzbauer offers a beautifully written, thoughtful analysis of how these changes unfold in the rural Mountain West. What happens when lifestyle migration meets labor migration in these new territories? The answers in this book are provocative and perceptive, skillfully revealing how race, class, or gender alone cannot provide complete answers."" - Peggy Levitt, Wellesley College and Harvard University"

Author Information

Leah Schmalzbauer is Associate Professor of Sociology and American Studies at Amherst College and author of Striving and Surviving: A Daily Life Analysis of Honduran Transnational Families (2005, 2013).

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