Fields of Toil: A Migrant Family's Journey
Valle, a journalist on assignment for the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, lived, worked, and traveled with a Hispanic migrant farm family in the Northwest for one year. This book is a compilation of her columns on the lives of Raul and Elena Martinez and their 13 children as they traveled from their winter home in La Grulla, Texas, to the fruit and vegetable farms in Oregon and Washington during growing and harvest seasons. Valle portrays a working-class family that believes in the work ethic and family values but must cope with the frustrations and helplessness of migrant life. She describes the hardships of constant travel, low pay, child labor, poor housing, lack of adequate healthcare and of educational opportunities for the children, and cultural and language barriers that the Martinezes face daily. The assistance and caring provided by government and private agencies in Oregon and Washington helped to ease the burden. Readers will be impressed by the determination and endurance of the Martinez family, who have spent their lives in the field. Recommended for both lay readers and scholars.Irwin Weintraub, Rugters Univ. Libs., Piscataway, N.J.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.