The Latino Threat

How Alarmist Rhetoric Misrepresents Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation, Third Edition

Leo R. Chavez

• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN: 9781503642539, 9781503638532
• eBook ISBN: 9781503642546
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Discrimination & Race Relations
• Index: Social Sciences

News media and pundits too frequently perpetuate the notion that Latinos, both US-born and immigrants, are an invading force bent on destroying the American way of life. Leo R. Chavez challenges the basic tenets of this assumption and other myths of the "Latino threat," providing a critical investigation into the fears and prejudices that are used to malign an entire population. In this updated and expanded third edition of his groundbreaking book, Chavez incorporates Donald Trump's emergence in American political life, with particular focus on the US-Mexico border as a site of political theater and the further sharpening of anti-Latino and anti-immigration rhetoric in public discourse. He also includes new discussions of "anchor babies," Dreamers and DACA, Latina reproduction and white replacement theory, and the emotional and psychological effects of negative political rhetoric on those whom it targets. Through trenchant analysis, this book reexamines urgent questions about what it means to be American.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface and Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I: Constructing and Challenging Myths
• Part II: Media Spectacles
• Part III: The Latino Threat Narrative’s Emotional Toll
• Epilogue
• Appendix: Methods for Studying the Emotional Effects of Rhetoric
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index