Luis G. G—mez was born in Nuevo Le—n, Mexico, in 1865. Like many of his countrymen, he chose to escape the political turmoil in Mexico and seek his fortune in the U.S. He crossed the border into Texas at the Rio Grande at about age nineteen and would later record his experiences and publish them in Spanish. Crossing the Rio Grande presents an English edition of G—mez's memoir, originally called Mis Memorias (My Memories), which he published in 1935. G—mez's grandson, Guadalupe Valdez Jr., translated it, with assistance from Javier Villarreal, a professor of Spanish at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. The new book is titled Crossing the Rio Grande.
G—mez crossed into Matamoros-Brownsville and sought his fortune in a series of contracting operations that created the infrastructure to help develop the Texas economy. G—mez's work took him all around South Texas, and his experiences in Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Victoria, Galveston, Houston, San Antonio, Hallettsville, Yoakum, and several other small towns are covered in this book. Besides his work experiences, he describes aspects of his everyday life in the U.S. He shares observations of Mexican customs in the U.S., such as courtship and marriage, relations with Anglo employers, religious practices, and simple home gatherings.

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In his autobiography, A Kine–o Remembers, Lauro Cavazos, former secretary of education, hopes that his story will encourage young minorities of the importance of education. He strongly believes that his parents' encouragement of education is responsible for his success in life. He shares the story of his personal and professional life and recounts how his childhood on the King Ranch helped lead to his impressive career, which includes serving as President of Texas Tech University and as the Secretary of Education under George H. W. Bush.
Cavazos was born on the King Ranch in 1927; his father was a cowboy on the Ranch, and his mother was born and raised on the Ranch. Growing up, he and his siblings were introduced to a natural bilingualism-they were encouraged to speak only English with their father and only Spanish with their mother. Although his parents had little formal education, they knew the value of education and insisted that all five of their children go to college. He says life on the King Ranch gave him Òas fine an education as the one I received at great universities.Ó

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