Latino access to higher education : ethnic realities and new directions for the twenty-first century /

Urbina (Sul Ross State College) and Wright (Rio Grande College) have delivered an important book that documents the Latino experience in higher education, with each chapter providing significant information. As the population demographic in the US shifts, Latinos have emerged as the largest minority group. The authors assert that the focus of academic investigation, research, support, and discourse needs to expand to include the Latino voice and experience, especially of first-generation Latino students. There is an impressive amount of material in the book. The first three chapters provide an overview of the Latino student experience, including an analysis of historic trends and previous empirical studies. The book includes information from the authors' qualitative study in a higher education setting in Texas and gives voice to the student experience. Student narratives from the study are instructive and give readers a clear understanding of the barriers confronting Latino students. The concluding chapters present information for readers to reflect on and then formulate potential individual and structural interventions and solutions. The call for accountability in institutions of higher education is timely. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. --Jacqueline S. Hodes, West Chester University